Stretch Marks (a tiger's stripes)

one day i was looking at my back in the mirror
and i saw a tiger's stripes

i saw lines
like a razor dragged across my back
jagged jagged lines
purple and yellow and black and blue
and i stared at them
i searched for what they were
and i was told that they are not attractive or sexy or beautiful
and so i stared at them
hoping that way they would go away
they turned up in other places
my stomach
my chest
i hated them
but then one day looking in the mirror
i was looking at them
and i saw a tiger's stripes
not disgusting ugly lines in all colours cut across
but a tiger's stripes
a fighter's wounds
battle scars
splashes of colour and art and paint across my back
and i told myself
f**k it
i'm a tiger
and i've f*****g earned these stripes
and what tiger isn't proud of their's?