Ileana Mălăncioiu: Atunci am înţeles

It Was Then I Understood

It was then I understood you were all alone
in the dull gray earth,
I myself stood at your head as if
at the other end of the world.

The priest sang the usual mass
the cantors murmured their part too
I watched the earth fall on you in clods
and wondered why I wasn't dying myself.

Father was crying, but lived on,
mother's tears were all dry,
you children didn't know how to mourn yet
and the wind knew not over what it blew.

It swayed the wooden cross on which
it was written you were gone before you were 33
with the same peace it rocked
the grove of trees in bloom.

I remember it well, you were alone,
in the dull grey earth
I myself stood at your head as if
at the other end of the world.

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