The Tattooed Man – A Poem

My words have been stifled.

Inside me,

I watch as they ride along

on a current of water

that has no beginning

and no end.

They are waiting for me

to pick them up again

and cradle them like children

before I send them

out into the world

by placing them on the page.

They stir in the water

when they realize that I am watching.

My words make ripples

that fan out along the water.

Watching them,

I feel joy in that moment,

a light that shines from within.

My words are drawn towards it

as if it is the sun.

I stand at the waters edge,

unsure and uncertain

about going into the water.

I have been keeping the words

at arms length

almost as if I am punishing them

and myself in the bargain.

My words start to sing,

the sound reverberating along the water.

It sounds like the song

that my spirit sings to me

when I am lost or unable

to find myself.

I’m tired of resisting,

of listening to the whispers

that flitter and flick through the trees.

The wind whips them up around me

and soon it is almost all I can hear,

but the song of my words is stronger.

Ignoring the whispers,

I disrobe and walk to the water.

My words cry out

in a joyous surprise

and they swim towards me

with eagerness and I realize

that joy is also within me.

I have held them from apart from me

for longer than I ever have before.

Part of me wonders

if they will forgive me

but I needn’t have worried.

They rush towards me

and soon the words are

crawling along my skin,

their ink sinking into me,

filling my veins that had been empty

but now they are full,

filled with ink and words

just waiting to be released on the page again.

I sink into the water,

the inked words like tattoos

covering my skin.

As I look down at them,

I wonder what story they will tell me.

I lay on my back in the water,

and let the ink and the words within it

fill the blank page

that is within me.