“There he was. The infant Titus. His eyes were open but he was quite still. The puckered-up face of the newly-born child, old as the world, wise as the roots of trees. Sin was there and goodness, love, pity and horror, and even beauty for his eyes were pure violet. Earth’s passions, earth’s griefs, earth’s incongruous, ridiculous humours—dormant, yet visible in the wry pippin of a face.”

—  Mervyn Peake , book Titus Groan

Source: Titus Groan (1946), Chapter 13 “Keda” (p. 73)

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Mervyn Peake 91
English writer, artist, poet and illustrator 1911–1968

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“He could not be captured,
He could not be bought,
His running was rhythm,
His standing was thought;
With one eye on sorrow
And one eye on mirth,
He galloped in heaven
And gambolled on earth.”

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Context: He could not be captured,
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