Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Hi all! I've been in love with a poem by Gilbert Keith Chesterton ever since I came across it in a novel ('Glimmering', by Elizabeth Hand). It goes like this:
Prince, when I took your goblet tall
And smashed it with inebriate care,
I knew not how from Rome to Gaul
You gained it; I was unaware
It stood by Charlemagne's guest chair,
And served St. Peter at High Mass.
I'm sorry if the thing was rare;
I like the noise of breaking glass.
Until now, it had never occurred to me carry it around with me as a tattoo, but this community has inspired me! I'm now thinking about placement. . . I already have a lower back tattoo (sorry, forgive me for having committed the sin of arse antlers) which will eventually be expanded into a full back piece which will probably come partway down my right arm, and have plans for matching tattoos on my calves (a steampunk take on Hermes/Mercury wings).
My first thought is to go with either the last or last two lines rather than the whole poem - if two lines, I'd probably split them. I like the thought of putting the tattoo on my feet - along the outside edge running from my heel towards my little toe, just above where it stops being the sole of my foot and starts being the top, if that makes sense. I have a friend with a line of binary in the same place and it looks awesome. I'm not sure if the text would have to be too small for clarity (future blurring and so on) in order to to make it fit. If I just use the last line, I might put it across the back of my neck, up near my hairline.
Fontwise, I'd like to use something like 1942 Report or Last Words, but they might only work in a larger size than I want.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Prince, when I took your goblet tall
And smashed it with inebriate care,
I knew not how from Rome to Gaul
You gained it; I was unaware
It stood by Charlemagne's guest chair,
And served St. Peter at High Mass.
I'm sorry if the thing was rare;
I like the noise of breaking glass.
Until now, it had never occurred to me carry it around with me as a tattoo, but this community has inspired me! I'm now thinking about placement. . . I already have a lower back tattoo (sorry, forgive me for having committed the sin of arse antlers) which will eventually be expanded into a full back piece which will probably come partway down my right arm, and have plans for matching tattoos on my calves (a steampunk take on Hermes/Mercury wings).
My first thought is to go with either the last or last two lines rather than the whole poem - if two lines, I'd probably split them. I like the thought of putting the tattoo on my feet - along the outside edge running from my heel towards my little toe, just above where it stops being the sole of my foot and starts being the top, if that makes sense. I have a friend with a line of binary in the same place and it looks awesome. I'm not sure if the text would have to be too small for clarity (future blurring and so on) in order to to make it fit. If I just use the last line, I might put it across the back of my neck, up near my hairline.
Fontwise, I'd like to use something like 1942 Report or Last Words, but they might only work in a larger size than I want.
Thoughts? Suggestions?