C'est elle, la petite morte ...

from Illuminations ... Enfance (2016) by Thomas Oboe Lee

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lyrics

C’est elle, la petite morte, derrière les rosiers.
---La jeune maman trépassée descend le perron.
---La calèche du cousin crie sur le sable.
---Le petite frère (il est aux Indes!) là, devant le couchant, sur le pré d’oeillets. ---Les vieux qu’on a enterrés tout droits dans le rempart aux giroflées.

L’essaim des feuilles d’or entoure la maison du général. Ils sont dans le midi.
---On suit la route rouge pour arriver à l’auberge vide.
Le château est à vendre; les persiennes sont détachées.
---Le curé aura emporté la clef de l’eglise.
---Autour du parc, les loges des gardes sont inhabitées.
Les palissades sont si hautes qu’on ne voit que les cimes bruissantes. D’ailleurs, il n’y a rien à voir là-dedans.

[Trans.]

It’s she, the little dead girl, behind the roses.
– The young mother, deceased, descends the steps.
– The cousin’s carriage squeaks over the sand.
– The little brother – (he’s in India!) there, in front of the sunset, in the meadow of carnations. The old ones buried upright in the ramparts overgrown with wallflowers.

The swarm of golden leaves surrounds the General’s house. They are in the south.
– You follow the red road to reach the empty inn. The chateau’s for sale: the shutters are loose.
– The priest will have carried off the key to the church.
– Around the park the keepers’ cottages are untenanted. The fences are so high you can see nothing but rustling treetops. Besides, there’s nothing there to be seen.

credits

from Illuminations ... Enfance (2016), released February 18, 2017

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about

Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

thomasoboelee.com

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