In "If This Were Death", Paul Chanel Malenfant mourns the loss of a beloved woman by evoking the privileged moments of a life -- the grace of a landscape or painting, the emotion of things seen, windows open onto the world -- as a ceremonial and consoling leave-taking. A writer, critic and professor at the Université du Quebec à Rimouski, Paul Chanel Malenfant has published over fifteen collections of poetry and two novels, as well as a book and numerous articles on poetry. His work has received several awards. This is a translation of his Governor General's Award-winning collection, Des ombres portées (Noroît, 2000). Fleuves (Noroît, 1997) won the Prix Alain-Grandbois of the Académie des Lettres du Québec and the Grand Prix of the Festival international de la poésie.