Today is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday. I have always appreciated his work, especially his poem Dream-Land. In fact, I related to it so much that I have “Haunted by ill angels only” tattooed on the back of my neck. At the time, I had spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it was I was meant to do with my life, and I knew that I would have to go on some unknown adventures on my own. Eighteen was a strange turning point in my life.
I got this particular line tattooed on my neck because, for a long time, everything that was good was tinged with something bad that had happened. I wanted to appreciate all the good while acknowledging that bad things happen and that I could overcome them. I wanted to eventually appreciate that these things had happened. I know that is vague but hopefully understandable.
I still love my tattoo even though my life has drastically changed since I was eighteen. Now, I am not as lonely, but my path is still obscure. The ill angels are not as cruel as they used to be, but they are still there.
I get told a lot “Look where you came from and where you are now”, in a sense, I think this represents what I meant when I got this tattoo. Look what happened, the good and the bad, and see what it is now. My tattoo is a little faded these days. I think I am going to leave it as it. I am not ready to renew the ink in my ill angels.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48631/dream-land-56d22a06bce76
To Keep Learning, Always 