The Tattoo

Tattoos are a symbol in many cultures.

The mark of a warrior, the brand of a slave, the work of an artist.

found in ancient stories, tales told a thousand times.

Two individuals meet on an abandoned road, a dim pub, a prison cell who knows, each of a different culture none that mean a thing to us but much to them. One from the west or south, the other further north or east, they don’t look the same, their voices accented different from each other, They begin a discussion a boastful argument if you will about why the traditions of one were far greater than the other.

One had no established faith. The other followed the word of a god who may or may not be fable. One kept their hair tied and their sash loose. The other let their hair free and kept their sash firmly tied. One was used to seeing a man do the fighting and heavy lifting and a woman keep the house and rear the children. The other saw no need for such distinction and had seen many a woman take the blade while the man maintained his own domain. One lived by the water learning to embrace it from a young age, the other swore by the earth remaining grounded by oath to it.

Their conversation was becoming more and more heated as they compared their practices comparing language, art, and even the water source they drank until they learned that the one thing they had in common was the practice of tattoo art. Though for different reasons, one symbolises victory in battle while the other saw it as a rite of passage. Eager to triumph over the other, they rolled up their sleeves to compare and froze.

For they shared the same tattoo: a lithe woman bridging the gap between land and sea, one foot in the other, identical in both shape and design and ink.

How could this be? They couldn’t be the same, they just couldn’t. Their cultures couldn’t combine in a way without them ever learning of it. It felt as though their skins had shedded to reveal the same bloody organs.

Their fight forgotten. The two went their separate ways with questions unanswered. Was it a coincidence? An answer left to history? A family reunion left unacknowledged?

The answer was never known to them.