SUNSET 

 

If I could choose how to die,

Anointed by a sunset, I would be.

 

The light of the King of the Sky can become tenebrous,

But we still have its divine gleam in its azure sky.

 

With a purple mantle the sky enfolds it,

With the royal sign it makes its shroud.

 

All the flowers take on an air of sadness,

In their calyxes their delicate scent is confined.

 

But in the air floats an allure of sweetness,

An allure of comfort, hope and promise.

 

As beyond the sea, far from the horizon,

the sun keeps its pure brightness intact.

"Posta de sol" (Sunset), 1932

Translated by Núria Cohen.

(Sóller, 1883 – Palma, 1959). Maria Mayol i Colom was a writer, politician and teacher. She was the founder of the Women´s Promotion of Culture in Sóller (1926) and was actively and constantly involved with the cultural scene of her time. She gained a degree in French language and literature in Bordeaux and went on to pursue her studies in Mallorca in 1921 by enrolling at the Balearic School of Commerce. In 1939 she went into exile in France and returned to Mallorca in the mid 1940s. Her works were assembled years after her death under the title of Assaigs poetics (2008) and Delers I alters poemes (2008).