Christina A. Sharik

I AM… YOUR TATTOO

Christina A. Sharik: I Am… Your Tattoo

I am old
I am faded
I am blurred……
and oh, the cries
that I have heard –

I am humiliation
born of pain,
I am permanent –
meant to take the place
of your first name –
I exist in shame.

I live on in infamy
on children, now grown old;
I know about the cloth star
the color of a dull, sad gold

You are a Jew
I am part of you

I AM
…………… Your Tattoo.