Leona Lewis has revealed she came up with the words for her tattoo, which is a tribute to horses etched on her back, herself.

Leona Lewis designed her own tattoo.

The 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' singer recently got an etching on her back in tribute to her love of horses and she wrote the words for it herself.

Leona - who has another tattoo on the inside of her left wrist which is an Arabic message about love - said: "I got another one that goes halfway down my back recently.

"It's a poem - about horses. The last bit is a quote but I made up the rest. Their beauty captures every eye/ A gift from God for all mankind/ They lend us wings so we may fly/ To ride a horse is to ride the sky."

Although the 24-year-old pop star is delighted with new inking, her boyfriend Lou Al Chamaa was less impressed by the lengthy tattoo.

Asked how Lou reacted when he saw it, she replied: "He was a bit annoyed at first. He was like, 'It's permanent!' But he likes the message, everyone does."

Leona thinks many people are surprised by her tattoos because they wrongly believe she is a shy person.

The 'I Got You' singer - who won the 2006 series of Simon Cowell's UK TV talent show 'The X Factor' - added to Grazia magazine: "I'm actually not shy, I'm very outgoing, very talkative. I'm not a walkover.

"You've got to be tough in this business to get on. I am a very ambitious person, always been hard working and driven. You have to have that in you to go through a process like 'The X Factor'." .list.co