Black and grey fine line tattoo of a balloon on the upper back near the shoulder blade, with the script words Sometimes you need to let things go trailing from its string.

Balloon and quote on the upper back

Fine line · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A single balloon with a highlight on its round body sits near the shoulder blade, with its string curving down the back. The handwritten script line Sometimes you need to let things go follows the string, with the balloon drawn in soft shading and the lettering in fine, even linework. The image is greyscale, with the skin tone and soft focus leaving the tattoo as the clear focal point.

Fine line Lettering Back Balloon Quote Script

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Maud Ferrier had held the string since the spring her brother died of the fever, and by the time the walls of Carrow Keep had crumbled to knee height, the string had worn a pale groove into her palm. Each spring she tied a new balloon of red silk to the end, blew it up with her own breath, and watched it climb over the broken tower. Nobody in the valley asked her why. They brought her bread on feast days and kept out of the nettles.

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One autumn a travelling clockmaker stopped at the gate, sat on a fallen stone and watched her for an hour. "You will wear through that string," he said. "It is only string," said Maud. "It is holding me." He laughed, not unkindly, and told her the lords of Carrow had once hoarded gold and grudges until the walls split under the weight. "Gold does not fly," he said, winding his watch. "Neither does a grudge, unless you let go of the other end."

That winter she sat by the cold hearth with the string in her lap and thought about her brother's laugh, and about the clockmaker's hands, which had been steady and warm. In the morning the frost lay thick on the stones. Maud went up the tower stairs without a balloon, and when she reached the top she unwound the string from her palm one loop at a time.

In spring the blackbirds nested in the arrow slits. Maud was found sitting on the wall with her hands open in her lap, the palms pale and clean, while far above the rooks a single red speck drifted towards the sea.