MAIA To my little sister MAIA († at 10 years)

…One leaf, two leaves
Three leaves falling around me
On this October morning

And now my memory travels back
Far back
Into time’s depth
Before I was yet born

It was, they said, an October morning
The leaves were falling
There was an only daughter
There was a pretty girl
With a face too pale
With flaxen eyes too brilliant
With chestnut hair too like
The features of an angel.

A little girl too weak
To withstand the summer heat
A little girl too pure
To suffer winter’s mud
Her spotless soul flew
Toward the blue islands
On that October morning

People and trees
Scattered on her grave
Bitter tears
And dried leaves

…One leaf, two leaves
Three leaves falling around me
On this October morning…

June 1967.

Translated by Lenora Timm

This poem in breton