Colour realism tattoo of a green hummingbird on a shoulder blade, with the black script words This too shall pass curving beneath it.

Hummingbird and script on a shoulder

Realism · Shoulder · Colour · Photo

A hummingbird in flight, shaded in greens, yellow and an orange-red patch on its throat, sits on the upper back near the shoulder blade. Its wings and body use soft shading and fine detail, and a long beak points toward the left. Black cursive script reading This too shall pass curves below the bird, and the photograph is taken from behind with the skin in soft focus.

Realism Lettering Shoulder Hummingbird Bird Script Quote Wing

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth, The 16.42 to Carlisle has been cancelled again, so I am writing this on the back of a departures sheet on the bench under the clock that has said twenty to four since March. Something has been living in the station roof for a week. Mr Abara at the buffet swears it came in on a crate of lemons from the market, though I think he is only pleased to have a story to tell the commuters.

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It is a hummingbird, Ruth, a small green thing that hangs in the light beside the broken skylight as if someone has pinned it there. It keeps flying to the one pane that was left open, then back up to the rafters, then back again. The porters have stopped trying to shoo it. Yesterday a girl of about seven stood under it with her mouth open and said it was showing us the way out. Her father told her no, it was only lost, and she said that was the same thing.

You will remember Gran saying this too shall pass every time the boiler went or Dad failed to ring. I used to think it a dull thing to say. Today I watched the bird work its way along the iron beams, stopping, pushing its needle beak at the gap, and I thought it was not frightened of the gap at all. It just kept trying the air until one of them gave.

The pane swung fully open this morning when the wind changed. I had meant to tell you I would come up on the next train, but the bird went out, and I am still sitting here with the timetable on my knee. Come down if you can. The 17.10 is running. Love, Nell.