Oh, belly ring you stayed with me
Faithfully through five long years.
We met in Venezuela at the urging of a friend.
There, you became my closest companion
(though I had to adjust to having you there!)
and I would have lost you, but for some
Well-timed antibiotics.

But we stayed together.
Through my return to the US,
College graduation,
My first teaching job,
The move to Philadelphia,
And now to Richmond.

You made me feel like I had a secret,
A good, Christian girl with *gasp*
A piercing!

But now, you’re gone.
I couldn’t hold on to you anymore
As my skin stretched and my belly grew.
I hope someday we will be reunited.