Rose-like Tattoo
(For Dad)
I am Golgotha’s shadow, alive inside his shadow.
I am rose like, full bloom, resting inside skull’s vase.
His favorite: Four Roses, not water turned into wine.
I am sword’s flushed water and blood.
I am ruby’s bloom. His tattooed arms.
His purest essence suffering itself alive.
I am scarlet petals drinking fallen sunlight, bathed in milky moonlight.
I cannot clip away the thorns from his martyred crown.
Thorns pierce all minds.
I cannot untwist, twisted fate.
I am tired of absorbing all this vinegar-face-shame.
Everyone feels staked hands, staked feet.
I am Wilderness.
I am Venus, daughter of flames.
We are a climbing vine, entwined.