Keith Urban is either an eternal optimist -- or someone who doesn't learn from his mistakes. The country crooner reveals to the London Sunday Times that he's so devoted to wife Nicole Kidman that he's declared his love in indelible ink.

Too bad he unromantically etched the honor over an existing tribute to a former flame.

"It has my wife's initials in it," he tells the paper of the wirelike drawing on his wrist. "It was actually from another relationship where we had matching tattoos. We didn't need that anymore, so I had it altered."

When not recycling semipermanent pronouncements of his passion, Urban, who also emblazoned his more statuesque half's first name on his upper arm, opens up about life after his three-month stint in rehab, which he began last October, four months after he and Kidman tied the knot.

"I learnt a lot about addiction in the last six months," he acknowledges to the paper. "I've felt I'm alive, engaged in my own life, present, accountable and responsible. And the irony is, I'm becoming the person I was trying to be all along."

Of meeting Kidman, the singer says he felt "a good connection ... something indefinable. There was a familiarity to her, of course, but it had nothing to do with who she is professionally."

He dreamily describes it as "a different kind of familiarity, a mystic familiarity," and proclaims that their relationship has changed him in "every way."

"I am more selfless and I am learning so much about myself from loving her," Urban explains. "I am more comfortable with who I am because at the core I'm happy. It's a beautiful journey."

When asked about the difficulties of being newlyweds while he was away seeking treatment, he uses a line that we're guessing will end up on his next album: "I think that pain can knit you together more than joy."

As for his frequently declared dream of becoming a dad, he dispels the latest round of Kidman belly-watch rumors but hints, "Next year actually would be lovely."

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