Golden threads
Of skilfully incarcerated flesh
Woven webs
Across a flawless expanse
Of skin
Tiger stripes
She earned them
One for every day of pain
One for every step she took away
From him
Stripes of battle
Stripes of war
Too little butter
Too much bread
Skin stretched across her being
Like priceless art
An all consuming unfulfilling overflowing emptiness
Only fully represented in each mark