Black and grey flash design of a tree with a heart-shaped opening in the trunk, a small bird above and the words Strong roots produce beautiful leaves below.

Tree with heart and roots flash design

Botanical · Black and grey · Flash

A black and white line drawing of a tree with a heart cut into its trunk, a small bird perched above the canopy and exposed roots spreading at the base. The linework is fine and detailed, with shaded leaves and swirling branches. The script text beneath reads Strong roots produce beautiful leaves, set inside a rectangular border on a plain white background.

Botanical Tree Heart Root Leaves Bird Script Quote

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The band at the Majestic has been playing the same waltz since nine, and your mother is still on the floor with Walter Hale, who treads on her feet and apologises every time. You stand by the pillar with your coat over your arm, counting the brass rivets along the ceiling beams because counting keeps your hands still. Someone has dropped a glass near the bar. Nobody looks up.

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Your gran used to sit on the back step of the Margate terrace with a cup of stewed tea and point at the sycamore over the wall. Its trunk was split and scarred, and its roots came up through the pavement like knuckles. 'Look at what it's standing on,' she'd say. You thought she meant the council. It was years before you understood she meant the heart cut into the bark, the one a boy from the fairground had carved in 1961, which she had let grow over rather than have it cut out.

When the waltz finally ends, your mother comes off the floor with her cheeks pink and sits beside you on the bench. She doesn't look at you. 'Your gran was right about that tree,' she says. 'Roots first. The leaves are just showing off.' Then she holds out her hand, palm up, the way she used to at the kerb before crossing the road.

You take it. The floor is slick with French chalk, the band starts again, slower this time, and for once you let yourself be led.