Hello Dali:

It's only a needle, he said, and glanced at her scrubbed skin.

Will it hurt?

Think past the pinch, he said, and it will only burn.

Pushing ripples across a pool of black, he readied.

Tell me, she said.

It's only ink, he answered. It's going to burn.

If dogs could draw more than footprints, I would ask Lily for a tattoo.