Black fine line cherry blossom branch tattoo across the upper arm and shoulder, with open flowers and buds.

Cherry blossom branch on an upper arm

Fine line · Upper arm · Black and grey · Photo

A branch of cherry blossom runs diagonally from the top of the shoulder down the upper arm, with open five-petalled flowers, closed buds and thin twigs. The linework is fine and even, with light grey shading in places to add depth to the petals. The tattoo is black and grey on pale skin, and a person holding a camera is visible on the right of the frame.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The blossom came out a full fortnight early this year, all at once, the way it does when the nights stay mild. Dad walked the rows on Sunday with his hands behind his back and said nothing for a long time, which from him means the frost is coming back for it. He has been wrong about the weather since 1987, but he is seldom wrong about frost, and I have been up the ladder every evening since, tying sacking round the lowest branches like a woman bandaging a child.

Yesterday I cut a single branch from the old Morello at the bottom of Long Field, the one that leans over the ditch, and brought it in for the kitchen jug. Five open flowers, a handful of closed buds still hard as peppercorns, and twigs no thicker than your little finger. Mum said it was a waste to bring blossom indoors where nobody can see it, so I put it on the windowsill where the light comes through the net curtain and throws grey shadows on the wall, like a drawing of itself.

You said on the phone that you would be home for picking if the ship docked on time. Keep the closed buds in mind when you write back. They open when they are ready and not a day before, and some years they never open at all because the cold got in first. I have left one bud on the branch, the tightest one near the top, so you can see what I mean when you come up the lane. It is still waiting for you.

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