Tattoo You

I was pondering tattoos yesterday, specifically mine. The images of all the tattoos I never got began to dance through my mind and I realized that everyone has it all wrong. Everyone always talks of the permanence of tattoos, the scars of ink, but that aspect is insignificant. Everything that you accumulate in life you carry with you till the end, these just happen to be physical. But the real intrigue is what you don't have on you. All of those lines that will never cover my skin. Everything that would have been there had I had more money in my pocket on certain days, or had a better idea. The falls I didn't take, the more meaningful symbols which will never occupy spaces already taken up by impulse. The tattoos I wear are mine. Aesthetics are irrelevant. They represent my body in time and space. The ink has taken on meaning as my skin has taken on the ink. And not to wax to philisophical about tattoos, just to marvel at the negative space, and at the opportunities I have had, and will have to be a different person.