If seeing her an hour before her last Weak cough into all blackness I could yet Be held by chalk-white

Mervyn Peake
About This Quote

This quote is a tribute to a woman whose beauty was so pure and luminous that it could withstand any darkness. When she was just a baby, she was so young that her heart was beating rapidly. Her last words were “I love you, daddy.” Why does this quote capture the essence of love? The writer uses the color of chalk to represent imperishability. Chalk is light and white, but it is also durable and resilient.

From birth on she had the ability to withstand any darkness. She had the brightest heart of all.

Source: Collected Poems

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More Quotes By Mervyn Peake
  1. I, while the gods laugh, the world's vortex am; Maelström of passions in that hidden sea Whose waves of all-time lap the coasts of me; And in small compass the dark waters cram.

  2. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt.

  3. It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt. But on an occasion such as this it was different, for the spirit of convention was being rigorously adhered...

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