Script quote tattoo on a forearm
Lettering · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo
A close view of a forearm carrying a fine black script quote that reads 'what the heart once owned, it shall never lose', set in three slightly angled lines. The lettering is solid black with clean, even linework and no shading, and the skin tone and light are natural. The arm fills the centre of the frame, with a cream striped wall, a red sign and a shelf visible behind it.
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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction
Dear Marit, the ferry came in this morning with the gulls following it like washing on a line, and I stood on the slip in your old oilskin, buttoned to my chin, and watched for you. You were not on it. Mrs Haddow says you have taken the mainland post, and that is fine, I suppose. I am not writing to scold.
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I found the tin you left under the counter at the shop, the one with the thistle on the lid. Inside were the postcards you never sent, all addressed to me in the same slanting hand, the ink gone pale where the damp got in. Each one was a short line about the weather on the north side, or the seals on the skerry, or Dad's boat with its new blue paint. None of them said goodbye.
I read them all twice, sitting on the wall where we used to count the lighthouse flashes. I thought about what Dad used to say whenever the tide took something of ours: what the heart once owned, it shall never lose. He said it like a joke, and I always rolled my eyes. Now I think he meant the sea does not get to keep the things we love, only the memory of how they sounded.
So I am posting this to the mainland with the first crate of crab. Come home at the equinox. The kettle is on, and the tin is waiting for you to add one more card.
Yours, always, Ilse
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