Inked

I've told you about my stellar English teacher, yes? Good. Today we were discussing the poem "Blackberry picking" by Seamus Heaney. We look for words that stand out or can help explain the metaphor. The word I chose was 'inked'.

In the poem, this word meant stained with juice from the berries. Metaphorically, it means the ink from the mistakes we've made; the things we have seen in life.

What if people could see these ink stains on people? I'm not talking about tattoos or people drawing on themselves. I'm talking about holding a grudge and having little black smudges appear on your skin every time you don't let it go.

My point to this, everyone is 'inked', we all have hard times and trials, none of us are perfect, and we make a lot of mistakes. I know I do. But before you see someone and imagine what their inked soul looks like, look at your own.