Black line drawing of a lotus flower with crescent moons, flowers and dotted triangles in a circular fine line design, shown on white paper beside a Micron pen.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lotus and moon phases design on paper

Fine line · Black and grey · Flash

A black linework design of a open lotus flower sits at the centre of a circle, with three moon phases, small blossoms and leaves above it. Fine single lines form the petals and flowers, while stippled dots and a dotted border add texture. Triangles and dots line the lower edge, and the design is drawn in black ink on plain white paper.

Fine line Botanical Dotwork Lotus Moon Crescent moon Flower Leaves Triangle Dot Circle

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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The bus broke down outside Caddon Wells at half past four, and the driver, a man called Esau with a moustache like a broom, said we had until the moon was up to fix it or walk. I took the walk. I'm writing this on the back of a petrol receipt by the light of the last pump, so forgive the smudges.

The road out here runs dead straight for forty miles and the sand comes over it in fingers. Past the third milestone there's a pool that shouldn't exist, ringed with reeds, and in it a single lotus opened white as a plate. Nobody planted it. The old woman who sells dates at the crossroads says it arrives when the moon is new and goes under when she is full, as if it keeps its own calendar. I laughed at her. Then I sat on the bank and watched the crescent slide over the ridge, and the water took the shape of the moon exactly, the way a dish takes a cup.

I've decided to stay the night at the crossroads. Esau has a cousin with a truck and a cracked windscreen, and he says we'll be on the road by dawn. I am not sure I want to leave. The ridges of the dunes keep arranging themselves into the same dotted border I used to draw in the margins of your school notebooks, and the stars are so thick they look like someone stippled them in with a steady hand.

Come and find me in spring when the reeds are green. I'll bring you a flower, though I suspect it will have closed by the time you arrive, and you'll have to take my word for it.

Yours, Nell