Back Tattoo

While pining over a lost love

interest my friend divulged

his desire for one.

Talons brandished,

wings spread,

fangs doused

in wine of iron

and blood, he longed

for a dragon etched

mural-style across his back.

“And not just a dragon,”

he said,

“He'd be fighting a samurai;

and it would somehow

be more than that somehow,

you know?”

And it would be,

I saw it bleeding from

his discouraged eyes.

“Well that sounds awesome,”

I told him,

“I think it speaks to your character,

like conquering your demons and stuff.”

We both had a laugh over that one,

“You're too corny,” he told me,

“but that's what everybody likes about you.”

It was a heartfelt brotherly moment

I told myself I'd never forget

as we sipped our 40 ounce bottles of steel reserve

in a staples parking lot.