Small anchor tattoo with a red and white ribbon wrapped around it, above script lettering reading hope anchors the soul, on the inner forearm near the wrist.

Anchor and ribbon with Hebrews 6:19 script

Lettering · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

A small anchor with a red and white ribbon wound around its shank sits above three lines of script lettering that read hope anchors the soul, followed by a smaller Hebrews 6:19 reference. The anchor and ribbon use solid colour, while the lettering is a dark blue-purple with softer, slightly uneven linework. The tattoo fills the lower centre of the frame on a pale skin tone against a light blue cloth background.

Lettering Forearm Anchor Ribbon Script Lettering Hope Scripture

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Walter,

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The ribbon came loose from the anchor on the mantel again this morning, so I have pinned it back with a hatpin and told nobody. Your brother's ketch is still out past the Mouse Rock, and the Coastguard man says the glass is falling but not fast enough to frighten the fishermen. Mrs Gorse in number four has taken to sitting at the front window with her knitting in her lap and not a stitch done.

I went down to the harbour at six, as you would, and asked Tom Halliday's boy whether anyone had seen the Hope Lily come past the breakwater. He said nobody had, but he kept looking up at the sky the way Father used to, and said it was clearing in the north. I took that for a kindness. Then I walked along the front to Mr Penrose's chandlery and bought a length of red and white bunting from the back shelf, for no good reason except my hands wanted something to do.

Back at the house I found the Bible open on the hall table at Hebrews, which Mrs Gorse must have been reading in the night. The line about hope being an anchor of the soul was underlined in pencil. I thought it a bit much, a verse for a shipwreck, but I sat down and read it twice, and the kettle boiled dry, and I did not get up to see to it.

They came round the point at half past nine, the Lily's lamp swinging low, her mainsail torn and nobody hurt. Mrs Gorse got up from the window and put her knitting straight into the basket without a word. I have written the rest on the back of the rent book. Come home when the tide serves, and bring your sea boots, because I have a length of ribbon here that needs winding back on.