A poem about Collagen and its effects on the body

We are, at our core, a woven design,

Tethered by glycine, proline, and time.

Thirty percent of the protein we bear,

Is a quiet architecture running everywhere.

Three left-handed strands softly gather and twine,

In a tight, crowded space where the atoms align.

No room for the bulky, the large, or the grand,

So glycine—the smallest—takes hold of each strand.

They twist to the right as they lock and compress,

A triple helix born to handle the stress.

Type One is the giant, the strength of our frame,

In skin, bone, and tendon, it anchors its name.

Ninety percent of the strength we command

Is held by this dense and unbreakable band.

Type Two is the cushion where heavy joints meet,

An elastic cartilage softening our feet.

Type Three lines the rivers where crimson blood flows,

In the walls of our organs and paths of our woes.

But the loom needs a spark for the fibre to hold,

A catalyst helping the shape to unfold.

Without Vitamin C, the hydroxylase dies,

The lattice unravels, the framework unties.

The ancient disease that once haunted the sea,

Was just columns collapsing for lack of a tree.

With time, the bright fibroblasts slow in their trade,

The matrix grows thin where the youthfulness played.

Yet deep in the marrow, the skin, and the spine,

We remain a biological, braided design.

 References

Cleveland Clinic. (2022). *Collagen: What it is, types, function & benefits*. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/23089-collagen

Fidler, A. L., Boudko, S. P., Rokas, A., & Hudson, B. G. (2018). The triple helix of collagens – an ancient protein structure that enabled animal multicellularity and tissue evolution. *Journal of Cell Science*, *131*(7). https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.203950

Cited by: 254

Ricard-Blum, S. (2010). The collagen family. *Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology*, *3*(1), a004978. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a004978

Cited by: 3351

Wikipedia. (n.d.). *Collagen*. Retrieved June 8, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagen