Black and grey fine line outline of a swallow in flight on the wrist, with the hand softly blurred in the foreground.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Swallow tattoo on a wrist

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A small outline tattoo of a swallow in flight, with forked tail and swept-back wings, sits on the inner wrist. The linework is thin and even, with no shading or fill, and the ink is solid black against pale skin. The background is dark and the hand in the foreground is out of focus, so the tattoo is the clear point of the composition.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell,

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Mrs Pargeter has finally given me the back attic with the window onto the harbour, so you can stop fretting about draughts. She counts the coal like it is gold leaf and charges me for every candle end, but the room looks out over the lighthouse eaves, where the swallows nest. Each morning they pour out over the mud flats, forked tails cutting the grey like shears through good cloth.

I watched them for an hour yesterday while the lads from the coaster argued about the tide. Mr Ashdown swore a swallow never needs a map, only the stubbornness to point its nose at home and keep going. I said that sounded like my mother, and he laughed so hard he slopped tea on the psalter. Afterwards I walked down to the jetty and tried to sketch them on the back of an old tide table, wings swept back, tails split like a pair of compasses. Mine look like drunk gulls, I'm afraid.

I am sending it to you anyway, so you can judge the wings for yourself. Tell Dad the Guernsey boat is due Thursday, and that if the wind holds I will be on the quay by noon with a sack of coal and no excuses. Keep the lamp lit in the front window. I can see the glow from the water when we come round the point, and it is the only thing I have ever been able to find in the dark.

Your loving brother, Tom

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