Desire by Kyomoto Taiga - English Translation

[hypericum]

Desire

Kyomoto Taiga

I believed that our love would go on forever

Dusk seeps into the misty rain

This awful cruelty

Seems to block even the path you left behind

I’ve lost sight

of what I’m supposed to seek out in this world

Battered by impermanence

I know I can't go back anymore

But I still hope that one day I'll be sharing smiles with you again

So please, God, look back on me kindly

Because our sorrow has long since spilled over

Our shining promise still assaults the night

Morning comes, and this reality won’t change

I glare at it, I hate it

And the friction with the tomorrow it’s created

I won’t ask for anything else

So can I still believe that a miracle will come in the end?

I know I can't go back anymore

But I still hope that one day I'll be sharing smiles with you again

So please, God, look back on me kindly

Because our sorrow has long since spilled over

Notes

 

I really love this song and hope I was able to do Taiga’s beautiful lyrics justice. The “day cycle” throughout the song stood out to me, with “evening” (yuu) in the first verse, “night” (yoru), “morning” (me ga sametemo, “even when/if I wake up”) and “tomorrow” (asu, written as mirai or “future”) in the second. You can see from these notes that I was more liberal with the “morning” and “tomorrow” sections. I wanted to make the passage of time as clear in my translation as it is in the original, hence these choices. “Tomorrow” still holds the dual meaning of “future” in English, so I thought it was a good equivalent for mirai (“future”) being read as asu (“tomorrow; near future”). The narrator, “battered by impermanence,” feels the cruel and unending passage of time as it covers the ephemeral tracks that this person has left behind. This interpretation has informed most of my translation choices.

I think it’s a higher probability that I’ll be struck by lightning three times in a row than it is that Kyomoto Taiga will see this, but thank you Kyomo for writing such a beautiful song! Please perform it at your next solo concert. Please. I’m begging!!!!!!!

Romaji

ai no mama towa ni tsuzuku to shinjita

kirisame, yuu ni somaru

kono amari ni zankoku na shiuchi

kiseki sae fusagu you de

kono sekai ni nani wo midashi tsuzukeru beki ka

wakaranaku natta yo

mujou ni uchitsukerarete

mou modorenakutemo kimi no soba de

itsuka mata egao ga afureru you ni

douka kamisama yasashiku furimuite yo

bokura no kanashimi wa tou ni michiteiru kara

ima mo kagayaki tsuzuketa mama no yakusoku ga yoru wo osou

me ga sametemo

kawatte kurenai kono genjitsu wo nirande nikunde

shoujita asu to no atsureki

mou hoka ni nanimo motome wa shinai kara

saigo ni kiseki wo shinjite mo ii deshou ka

mou modorenakutemo kimi no soba de

itsuka mata egao ga afureru you ni

douka kamisama yasashiku furimuite yo

bokura no kanashimi wa tou ni michiteiru kara

Lyrics by Kyomoto Taiga

Composition by Kyomoto Taiga and Tomi Yo

Arranged by Tomi Yo