Black and grey dotwork lantern with a moth, a dotted night sky and geometric lines, tattooed on the outer thigh.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lantern and moth on a thigh

Dotwork · Other · Mixed · Photo

A lantern sits at the centre of the design, with an ornate moth resting on its top and a dotted full moon behind it against a dark sky. Fine dotwork shading fills the lantern and moth, while bold geometric lines and triangles frame the composition on either side. Small teal accents in the background add the only colour to an otherwise black and grey piece.

Dotwork Geometric Blackwork Other Lantern Moth Moon Night sky Star Dot Geometric line Triangle

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Hal, the lamp at the top of Tanner's Steps went out again on Tuesday, so I was sent up the ladder with a tin of paraffin and a face like a wet Sunday. The moth was there when I climbed. It was the size of my hand, with wings patterned like a Persian rug someone had left out in the rain, and it sat on the brass cap as if it owned the street. It wouldn't shift for the hook, so I had to coax it off with my hat.

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I've taken to watching it since. Most nights the moon hangs over the gasworks like a coin dropped down a well, ringed with white specks, and the sky goes the blue-black of the ledger ink at the office. The lantern is the only warm thing on the hill. Everything else is hard edges: the railings, the stone of the bridge, the sharp corner of the wall where the lane bends, all ruled as straight as a surveyor's chalk line.

Mrs Pell at the corner says the moth is a bad sign, a soul waiting for its name to be called. I told her it was a moth. She said that was exactly what a soul would say. I have decided it is the clerk from the Council, come to check the lamps are burning properly, and he has been very thorough about it.

So I've left the lamp lit tonight, and I've left the ladder propped by the door for you, though I know you won't come up it. If you're on the late boat, look for the moon over the water, dotted and patient. The lamp will be going underneath it, and the moth will be inside the glass with its wings shut like a book. Yours, Eli.