tattoo

For weeks now I've been trying to decide on getting a tattoo or not. Not because tattoos are gaining a new visibility. It's a way of celebrating the completion of a new book, a new chapter in my life. But I have to think it over because tattoo is forbidden in Sunni Islam. I'm not devout or anything, it's the ostracism that I'm wary of. In my teens I was told that when I die hot iron would be pressed against my skin to wipe out the marking. The pain, not in death, but in the process of getting a tattoo also freaks me out. I know an anaesthetic spray would be used. But what would I do once it wears off? I'm not good at treating scab wounds either. I already picked a design. Lines from Kahlil Gibran's poetry in Arabic calligraphy.


"Love gives not but itself and takes not but from itself."

I need to learn a lot from Bananas who has tattoos here and there. Or I guess I need to be in love (for sure, with *&^#) to muster the courage to do such a bold thing. I wish he'll be there to hold my hand and lessen the pain.