Tattoo

If I could be a tattoo sketch
and live upon your skin
I’d find my way to tender flesh
and I would settle in:
a rope design around your arm
to keep you tied to me,
a nod to marriage rites of old
before rings and ceremony.
Catch me as a butterfly
as my wings caress your belly;
gentle, flirty, teasing strokes
to drive you mad so softly.
Then I’d find a quote of love,
and mark the skin next to your ear,
so you could hear my whispered words
and know I’m always near.
And on your thigh (yes, very high!)
I’d be leather and I’d be lace;
a bit of wicked naughty fun
for the games we like to play.
And on your chest you’d find my heart
inked right next to your own;
it is an old cliché, my love,
but it’s the place that I call home.
And for all the other bits of you
(If I could only have my way!)
I’d cover you in tattoo’s ink,
and etch my love without delay—
Yes, the artwork I would love to be,
how my designs would settle in,
if I could be a tattoo sketch
and live upon your skin.