Embracing The Tears

Landing the Boat -Chang Fee Ming, Watercolour on paper. 55x75cm.

Embracing The Tears - A Poem

A sarong in my hands. 

Soft, like a memory,  

Whole, pristine, unmarked, 

A promise of untouched tomorrows.  

 

 Life happens,  

And the threads begin to fray.  

The first tear is barely noticed,  

Like a whisper in a storm, 

 

A fleeting touch, a moment of discomfort.  

But the fabric doesn’t protest.  

It keeps moving forward, 

Carrying the weight of the world.

 

We are all born with a perfect sarong,  

But time knows no tenderness. It pulls and tugs,  

Rips and stretches leaves us exposed and raw,  

Vulnerable in the truth of our humanity.  

 

Each tear is a lesson, 

Each fray, a memory.  

The fabric of life isn’t meant to stay unbroken,  

But to be worn with purpose. 

To be stitched with intention.

 

I once feared the rips 

Thought they were failures, 

Thought they meant the end. 

But now, I see it clearly 

The tears are where the light shines through.  

It’s where the beauty lives.

I’ve learned to stitch the sarong of my soul,  

To weave my brokenness into a tapestry of strength.  

To patch the places that have been torn,  

Not with shame, but with pride,  

For the fabric I carry is no longer perfect,  

But it is real. It is mine.

 

I’ll wear the sarong with all its holes,  

Its frayed edges, its faded threads,  

For they are proof of what I’ve overcome.  

Proof that I’ve lived and loved,  

And been whole in my imperfection.

 

So, let me wear it proudly, 

This torn sarong,  

For every tear is a victory, 

And every patch, a story to be told.

 

I am whole not despite the tears,  

But because of them.  

And in the end,  

It’s the tears that make me beautiful.