Intimacy of Your Tattoos

How many stories must be written

About tracing a lover's tattoo?

What makes the act so enticing?

Likely it is just my envy;

you've personalized your skin yet my own remains blank

(Blank—except for scars that are far too deliberate

In the shapes of designs and letters that were no accident

But those are old now; still a part of my skin

but less a part of me than they once were.)

There is something to be said for the intimacy

In memorizing the patterns an artist drew so carefully,

Just as there is something to be said for the intimacy

Of physically seeing the confidence you've gained since we met.

Have we truly grown so much in so little time?

Or do we simply understand each other better now?