Teardrop Cross

Hello Larry

I do not know for certain what the significance is of a teardrop tattoo, but my understanding was that it meant you had lost someone or killed someone depending on how many or whether they are coloured in or not? Something not entirely pleasant either way, I suppose.
The first stanza is interesting as it is indeed very easy to judge a book by its cover, be it a man with a skinhead and tattoos or a lawyer with a briefcase (wink). There normally is so much more to a person than the surface. In my experience, it's people who look like this that often have the most to say and interesting stories to tell. Put simply, they have lived for better or worse.
But to see a man that has changed what signifies a rather dangerous past, perhaps, into something that signifies faith and hope and sacrifice is telling. He clearly wanted to tread a different path than the one he was on.
The second stanza is true, also. You speak of this man's cross that covers his past, but unfortunately, people are often tarnished by their past, despite their efforts to erase it. You can be forgiven, but acts cannot always be forgotten. Accountability is part of being an adult, after all. Although this man's future is 'blazoned' on his cheek, unfortunately, so too is his past - that's inescapable.
I agree too with the last stanza. My opinion is that we should not judge, but from an honest and human perspective, we always will; it is in our nature and we are helpless against instinct. After all, instinct and judgement is what keeps us alive, be it in the Jungle or in the concrete jungle!
So what to do when the person himself holds himself out to be judged? Of course, we must judge but wonder too what weight it is that they must carry on their shoulders.

Insightful stuff,

SL

This poem really connects with me, as I feel it symbolises the way everyone is so quick to judge. Great poem, full of depth and meaning.

Sigh the teardrop underneath the eye, I have not seen one but I heard what it signifies. I feel that he is in the step of becoming free. Though he may always have to live with that.

The teardrop tattoo has two significances. One may put a man into prison, the other would make him want to get out.