TATTOOED SON

A FATHER TALKS TO HIS DEAD SON.

Your youngest sister
wants to have
your name

tattooed on her skin,
my son, not that
she'd forget you

or ever let the meaning
of you fade as her skin
will fade with age and time,

she just wants
your name there,
as a daily reminder of you,

her older, now dead brother,
your name like a prayer,
a mantra to say,

and see it there.
If I had more nerve,
and didn't have this

fear of needles, maybe
I’d have a tattoo too,
your name right there

over my heart
in blue and red,
to remind me where

my love for you is,
and the ache there
since you died,

and the fast thump there
each time from grief
I cried.