I love to touch your tattoos in complete darkness—when I can’t see them.

I’m sure of where they are—I know by heart,

The neat lines pulsing on your bicep.

I can find, as if by instinct, the green and orange details

Of the fish that connect within the blue of the sea.

I trace the lines that define the battle within you—

That hold so much beauty in the Samurai,

I graze the feeling of the dragon,

And the power behind family that you hold so true.

When I pull you to me,

Taking you until we’re spent and quiet on the sheets,

I love to kiss the pictures in your skin.

They represent such importance and meaning to you—

So powerful is the pain and love, they will always be there.

Such permanence is where I hope, someday, I will be in your heart.

So I touch them in the dark—only to remind myself

Of the emotion that guides you.

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Relephant:

Getting Inked: The Deeper Meanings of Tattoos.

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Author: Amber Vail

Editor: Yoli Ramazzina

Photos: Flickr/Christian Reusch