Fine line black tattoo on the side ribs forming a heart from a treble clef swirl, a bass clef curl and a row of piano keys, with two dots beside it.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Music heart tattoo on the ribs

Fine line · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

A black ink tattoo forms a heart shape: a treble clef and a bass clef curl sit on the left, while a row of piano keys runs along the right edge. Two small dots sit to the right of the heart. The linework is thin and even, with the keys shaded in solid black, and the design is set against plain, lightly lit skin.

Fine line Ribs Heart Treble clef Bass clef Music Dot

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The piano in the front parlour of Marram House had been out of tune since the winter the sea came over the wall, and Mrs Pryce kept it shut under a lace runner so the lodgers would not ask questions. I was twelve the summer Mr Lowry arrived with a leather case and a bad knee, and on his first evening he lifted the runner off as if it were a dead cat.

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He sat down, pressed a key, and frowned. "Your lower octave is drowned," he said. "Fetch me a tuning hammer and a kettle of hot water, and we'll see what can be saved." He worked three days in his shirtsleeves. He talked about his wife, who had drawn hearts on the margins of every song she copied, and he showed me the clefs printed at the start of each line, the curly one that looked like a question and the other like a full stop with ears. Beside one long passage he pointed to a pair of small dots and said they meant go back and play it again.

On the last night the notes came out clean and round, and the whole house stopped on the stairs to listen. Mr Lowry rested his stiff leg on the stool and played a little waltz his wife had written. When it ended he tapped the sheet and said, "Dots mean again." He caught the early bus the next morning and left the sheet behind on the stand, folded once.

I still have it. In the off season I lift the runner, play the waltz from the top, and when I reach those two dots I go back to the beginning and start it over.