Fine line outline of a lotus flower with small dots beneath it, tattooed on the outer ankle of a woman's foot resting on a cushioned chair.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Small lotus flower on an ankle

Fine line · Ankle · Black and grey · Photo

A small lotus flower is drawn in a single-weight black outline, with the petals open and a centre left unshaded. A cluster of tiny dots sits beneath the bloom, and the ink appears dark and crisp against the skin. The tattoo is shown in the lower left of the frame on a bare foot, with a white drawer and upholstered chair in the background.

Fine line Dotwork Ankle Lotus Flower Dot

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tamit, the old pond-keeper at the temple has finally let me near the blue lilies, so you can stop teasing me about the jars I carry. For four days I hauled water from the canal, my shoulders raw, and all for the privilege of watching the flowers fold shut at dusk and open again at dawn. Heny says a bloom remembers the sun it saw the day before, which I think is a kind thing for a flower to do.

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Heny taught me to count the seeds in a dried pod. They sit in their little cups like black pepper in a bowl, and he touches each one with a fingertip and tells me it is a year the lotus can wait in the mud before it wakes. I asked him how he knew the number was true. He only laughed and said the mud keeps its own accounts, and that I would learn them if I stayed still long enough. I have not yet learned to stay still.

This morning he gave me a cutting from the old root and sent me to the corner pool where the water hardly moves. I pushed it down into the silt with my thumb, and it floated back up twice before it agreed to stay. I was ready to report failure to Heny, but when I went back at noon there was a single pale petal lifted above the surface, curled like a hand that has just decided to wave.

I am enclosing a seed pressed flat between two papyrus leaves. Keep it dry, and do not let the scribes at the storehouse see it or they will want to tax it. When the flood comes, plant one in your own courtyard and tell me whether it opens for you too. Your brother, Senu.