Black and grey dotwork swallow tattoo in flight across the upper chest.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Swallow in flight on the chest

Dotwork · Chest · Black and grey · Photo

A swallow with outstretched wings and a forked tail is shown in flight, facing right. The body and wings combine bold outlines with stippled dotwork shading that gives the feathers and underside texture. The tattoo is in black and grey on pale skin, centred on the upper chest with soft natural lighting.

Dotwork Traditional Chest Swallow Bird Wing Flight

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom, the swallows came over the Bwlch on Tuesday, low and fast, flying the way they do when the wind has turned against them. I counted forty before I lost them in the cloud on the col. Mam says it is bad luck to count birds, but I was minding the goats and had nothing else to do with my hands.

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The inn is half empty now. Mr Pryce has shut the upper rooms for the winter and sleeps by the range with his boots on. The carter from Llanrwst came through with word that the road below Pen-y-Gwryd is washed out, so the post will be late, and I am writing this in case it never reaches you at all. Keep the letter with the pressed gorse in it. I could not send another.

Yesterday a swallow dropped onto the sill of the scullery window, too tired to lift again, and I sat with it wrapped in a tea towel until its breath slowed and it could stand. When I opened my palm it looked at the gap between the hills as though it had already decided the way. It went out over the scree, dipping once, its forked tail open like a pair of dividers, then it was gone east, toward the sea you are on.

I know you will say I am being soft. But if the birds can manage the pass in a gale, so can a man with a rope and a stubborn heart. Come home by the spring tide and bring your sea chest. The loft is swept. Your loving sister, Nell.