Colour traditional tattoo on a lower leg showing a swallow, a heart on a banner, a compass and red and purple flowers, with partial banner lettering.

Traditional swallow and compass on a lower leg

Traditional · Calf · Colour · Photo

The tattoo shows a swallow above a heart on a ribbon banner that reads LOVE, a compass with a red flower beside it, and a second banner with the words SHOWS US. Two flowers, one red and one purple, sit between the motifs, with partial lettering visible near the bottom edge. Bold black outlines and solid fills in red, orange, yellow, green and purple are set against pale skin, with the design wrapping around the limb.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Nell, the ship's cook has finally forgiven me for the potatoes, so I am writing this on the back of a menu card while the lamp swings. You asked in your last letter what the swallow is for. The old bosun says swallows always find their way home, and a sailor who wears one has had the sense to pick a bird that can do it. I told him I was not sure I had the sense. He laughed and pointed at the compass on my other arm and said that was the proof.

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Remember the Palais on Saturday nights, the band playing too fast and your hand in mine as if the floor might tip us into the sea? That is the heart on the ribbon, though I had the banner inked before I knew your surname. The flowers are for the garden you want behind the terrace once the rent is paid. The red one is for the kitchen door and the purple one is for the bit of lilac I pinched from Mrs Platt's wall, which she has never forgiven me for either.

The banner by my wrist says SHOWS US, and I used to think that was an odd thing for a tattooist to stitch on a man's arm. Now I think it means a compass only shows you the way. Walking it is your own business, and I would like to walk it with you.

We reach Liverpool on the ninth. The purser says we will be in dock a fortnight, which is long enough for one dance and one walk along the Pier Head if you will have me. Bring the blue cardigan. I have been practising the proper words for three voyages, but the ink on my arm says them better, so I will let it do the talking.

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