Tattoos are something people seem to either love or hate. But my question isn’t whether or not you approve of them or not. I was wondering what opera lyrics you might think are worthy of being imprinted in such a permanent way.

Why I continue to mull this over is mystifying. Personally, I can’t make a commitment to a pair of earrings that lasts longer than a week. The thought of my doing something permanent like a tattoo is laughable. But sometimes lines from arias go round and round in my head, and I think about it.

The first one I have in mind comes from a libretto I read as a mythology student before I even knew the piece as an opera: “Leuchtende Liebe, lachender Tod!” from the finale of Siegfried. I instantly fell in love with the gorgeous old translation I had: “Love that illumines, laughing at death!” Every romance is heading towards that crisis of conclusion (Unless you both get hit by a train or something). What can you do in the face of it but laugh? Only cry I suppose, which I tend to do in Siegfried every time! Anyway, it affected me powerfully.

The second line that I’ve attached to is “Una e la vita” from Turandot. My awkward translation: “life is once/ you live once”. Great words to live by any day of the week. Turandot declares her questions are three, death is once. It’s at this moment that you just fall in love with Calaf as he bravely and confidently steps forward to insist it is Life that is once. And then when they each sing on top of each other at the top of their voices. Well, if you aren't shaking in your shoes, I don’t know what can move you.

So the fact that I have two possibilities kind of makes the case that I am not ready to make a mature decision on any one thing to be permanently put on my skin. But I rather fear once I started I might sleeve out and end up with Siegfried, Brunnhilde, Grane and Fafner curling up one arm and Turandot with an ornate oriental tiger on the other!

Ummmm… yes. Perhaps best to keep just mulling this one over. I’ll just put that energy into more jewelry designs!