When I hit sixteen
All I wanted was a tat,
Everyone older
Said, I would regret that.
Then at seventeen
I ignored them and went in,
Started my obsession... with
The ink beneath the skin.

The outline was first,
Anticipated, more pain,
About a month on
And, with the colour it came.
An evil skull head
Darkened teeth and tattered chin,
Left me in awe of,
The ink beneath the skin.

Now three months later
It has scabbed and it has healed,
No coloured scab left
And it has completely peeled.
Time to envisage
My second trip to sin,
A tiger prowling through
The ink beneath the skin.

Now many years on
And my love just hasn’t changed,
I wear my art-work
You may think of this as strange,
But when so many
Try to take all that I own,
They can’t take my tats
They belong to me, alone.

25/4/08 ADO
© Copyright 2008
Adam Parker
All Rights Reserved
No Reproduction Of This Work
Is Permitted Without The Author’s
Consent