Close-up of a black script lettering tattoo reading Stars can't shine without the darkness, with blue and pink watercolour-style wash behind it, on the upper chest near the collarbone.

Script quote with blue and pink wash on chest

Lettering · Chest · Mixed · Photo

A black script quote reading "Stars can't shine without the darkness" runs across two lines on the upper chest, close to the collarbone. Fine black linework forms the lettering, with small white sparkle marks scattered among the words. Blue and pink soft-edged washes sit behind the text, and the image is a close, well-lit photo of the skin and neck above the tattoo.

Lettering Chest Quote Script Star Sparkle

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Ruth,

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Your mother wrote to say you've been up on the roof again, counting satellites instead of sleeping before the big day. Come down and eat some toast. I remember the winter of 1962 when the power went out across the whole valley and Dad made us stand in the yard in our coats to look up. Every star seemed to be out at once, pushing through the black like pins through felt.

I told you then that the sky was only so bright because the dark was so big. You rolled your eyes, the way you do now, and asked if I'd been reading greeting cards again. Maybe I had. But I meant it. Your grandfather and I spent our first year in two rooms above a chip shop on Clough Street with one bulb between us, and I thought we'd never see a thing. We did, though. We saw each other.

Now there's a wedding and a marquee full of people who think you've got it all sorted. You haven't, and that's fine. Nobody does. Wear the blue dress, not the grey one. Let the photographer take the picture of you and Sam under the lanterns, even though your hair will be a fright by then.

Love, Nan