The Tattoo

A man walked into a tattoo shop
searching for a perfect tattoo
of a guitar he played
not expecting the artist to be girl.
She put butterflies in his heart
he felt he found his first love.

“Have you ever been in love?”
he asked the artist in the shop
as he noticed her tattoo of a heart.
No she said then started his tattoo.
“What’s your name little girl?”
before asking her to watch him play.

Maddy was love struck as she watched him play
He smiled at her and she knew it was love.
“Will you marry me and be my girl?”
Engaged and in love, she went back to the shop
and started giving Eric a new tattoo
of a single rose through a heart.

Eric left for tour with a half-finished heart
and soon, he met Lisa where he played.
Lisa flirted and commented on his tattoo.
Lisa was his dream girl and his new love.
Maddy begged him to stay as he left the shop
leaving Maddy heartbroken for another girl.

Maddy killed herself and her unborn girl
and Lisa soon broke Eric’s heart.
Eric wondered back to the shop
feeling he was the one who was played.
He looked in the mirror missing his love
and started to see the changes in his tattoo.

Blood dripped from his tattoo
like the blood from his beloved girl.
The thorns cut into him from the tattoo he loved
as it spread from his back to his heart.
Once again, Eric felt played
as he bled to death in the tattoo shop.

On Eric’s only tattoo was of a small heart
done by the girl he played.
He loved Maddy still as he died in the shop.

Kelly Haisan is 20-year-old journalism student hoping to become a sports journalist some day. She currently attends Northampton Community College but plans on transferring to Lock Haven University next semester.

Find more by Kelly Haisan in the Author Index.

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.