Black fine line script reading alis volat propriis with a small bird silhouette in flight, shown on a pale grey background.

Alis volat propriis script with bird

Lettering · Black and grey · Flash

The image shows a tattoo design of the Latin phrase alis volat propriis in flowing cursive script, with a bird silhouette in flight to the upper right. The linework is thin and black, with some letters having long looping ascenders and descenders. The design is shown in black on a plain, light grey textured background with no skin visible.

Lettering Fine line Latin phrase Script Bird Silhouette

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Marion, you asked me in your last letter whether the words on the card meant anything, and I have been turning that over for a week like a stone in my pocket. The Latin is simple enough. Alis volat propriis: she flies on her own wings. Mr Hollis at the chapel school made us copy it out in our best hand every Friday until it stuck, and I suppose it did, because I have never once managed a joined-up s without thinking of him.

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Your mother came home from Barrow that August with one suitcase and a face like a shut door. I did not ask her what had happened. I put the kettle on and set out the good cups, which is what we did in our house instead of talking. The swift had been nesting under the eaves that summer, and in the morning it was gone, and she stood in the yard and watched the empty gutter as if it owed her an apology.

I am writing this because the card is in the drawer by the sink and I cannot bring myself to throw it out. Keep it, then. Read the bit about the wings twice when you are tired. And when the train pulls into Leeds on the twelfth, do not look for me on the platform. I shall be on the bench by the bookstall with my good coat on, pretending I came for the crossword.

Love, Nan