Black ink flowing script reading Love never fails, with small birds perched and flying among the letters, shown as a tattoo design on a white background.

Love never fails script lettering design

Lettering · Black and grey · Flash

A flowing, calligraphic script reads Love never fails in black ink on a plain white background. Small birds sit and fly near the letters, with one perched on the top of the L and another above the f. The thin, sweeping strokes and looping capitals give the lettering an elegant, hand-drawn feel, with no shading or colour.

Lettering Script Lettering Bird Swallow

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The rain has got into the Saturday market again, and the stallholders are cursing under their awnings. I spent the morning at the far end doing lettering for Mrs Okafor's new fishmonger board, which she wanted in what she called 'the flowery sort'. I told her I'd give her the flowery sort if she didn't mind the rain running into my pots. She didn't mind. She said her husband used to say the same thing.

I found Dad's quill case in the drawer under the scales this morning. Tucked inside was a card he'd practised on a hundred times, the same line again and again: Love never fails. The loops ran right off the edge of the card by the end. In the corner he'd drawn two swallows, one perched on top of the L, because he said a letter needed something to look at while it waited for the rest of the word.

I meant to bin the card. Instead I carried it over to the fishmonger's and asked Mrs Okafor whether she wanted the words along the bottom of her board. She read it, sniffed, and said that was no way to sell haddock. Then she gave me a pound for the card and asked me to come back Tuesday for the proper paint.

It's in my apron pocket now, gone soft at the edges where the rain got it, but the birds have held. Come home when you can. The stall needs a hand on the brush, and I've only got the one.