A Blue Smudge

A Blue Smudge
For Angel Madero

In a place and a time
Where tattoos were rarity.
A bunch of us young men
Noticed a blue smudge
On the upper arm of
Our friend's dad.

All of us being curious,
Yet most afraid to ask.
There was one of us
Who was more forward
Then the rest, asked him,
"What is that tattooed on your arm?"

He told us over forty years ago,
When he was not
Much older then us,
Newly married,And was
In San Francisco before
He was to be shipped off to
Fight the Japanese in WWII.

With a bunch of his buddies
Out on the town they went,
And with more then a few drinks
Found themselves in a tattoo pallor.

Now my memory of what
He said the design was,
Is a bit smudgy.
It is as clear as day what was written,

There was his name,
There was his wife’s name,
(Still married to this day)
And their wedding date.
Except the wedding date
Was wrong by two days.

This left a big impression on me.
The blue smudge,
And the wrong date
Is why I have no tattoos.

Or it could be:
I just don’t like pain.


18 September 2007
Larry T. Hollist