translation. 'In Little Time' by Garnet Crow

every time I experience some difficult period, I find my consolation in music. this time, Garnet Crow with their slow, sad, somewhat filled with emptiness songs helped me.

Japanese
original lyrics here

十二月にしては暖かいこんな夜は思いつきで出かけた
車の中でずっと手をつないで眠った　朝日が二人を起こすまで
まるで天國(てんごく)だね　光で満たされた海の側(そば)で
こんなに幸せな瞬間(とき)何故か涙が溢れてくることがあるんだね

いつの間にかトキはすぎて　壊れてく
二人を癒す為に思い出していた　切ない　in little time

迷わずに愛する為にどれくらい、ねぇ、強くなればいい?
いつまでも與(あた)え続けて　決して枯れないくらい強く生きてゆきたい
儚い願いを込めて孤獨の意味を知ってゆく ah~　um-
I have so little time

地球儀を回して見たこともない國(くに)を想った
それでもいつも君が傍にいたよね　十年先もそのずっと向こうも

身體中(からだじゅう)が満足されると怖くて
思い出すMathilde身を投げた河で永遠(とわ)に生きる
（きっと果てるのいつの日にか　in little time）

誰もいない街角に立ち君を探してる夢を見てしまう
かけがえのない人を見つけた　生きてゆく十字架また一つ増えてゆく
決して枯れない様に強く生きてゆきたい ah~　um-
I have so little time

English

That evening was warm for December, and I left home on a whim
In the car we had been sleeping with our hands joined, until the morning sun woke us up
It seemed like heaven – near the sea filled with light
And sometimes it happens that in such a happy time, for some reason, my eyes become full of tears

Time passed by before we knew it, the two of us were gradually breaking
And to heal us, I remembered that. Heart-rending, in little time…

To love unwaveringly, tell me, how strong should I become? 

Offering all I can, forever, I want to live strongly, so that it never withers

Embracing an ephemeral wish, I learn the meaning of loneliness, ah… um…
I have so little time

Rotating the globe, I imagined a land I have never seen
Still, you were together with me all the time, ten years later and even later than that

When my whole body is filled with satisfaction, I become scared
And remember Mathilde, who threw herself in a river and lives there forever
(Someday when it will surely end, in little time)

I can't help seeing a dream where I stand at an empty street corner, looking for you
I found an irreplaceable person, it adds me one more cross of living to bear
I want to live strongly, so that it never withers, ah… um…
I have so little time

_____

remarks:

1. some words have their reading in brackets - that means, their reading is unusual. 'tengoku' and 'kuni' are written with a rarely used old kanji for 'country' - 國 instead of the commonplace 国. other words unusual for the modern everyday written language are 何故 usually written as なぜ, 與 which is an old form of 与, and 身體 where 體 is an old form of 体, and the reading 'karada' is preserved though a more usual reading would be 'shintai'. it does not change the meaning, but adds some charm to the lyrics
2. also, 瞬間, a word that means 'moment', is read like 'toki', a word that means 'time' in general. the former is an ordinary noun, but 'toki' is a word used in a grammatical structure frequently translated as 'when...', and merging the two words implies that the narrator cried when she was happy, but that happiness was caused by a single moment, something that did not or cannot last too long. in the next line the word 'toki' is written with katakana, which makes it more emphasised
3. replacing the reading of 永遠 as 'towa' instead of 'eien' is a widespread thing. they both include the same initial kanji, which makes them related, and Japanese-... dictionaries list the same words as variants of translation, and monolingual dictionaries include one of them into the explanation of the other. if any principal difference is to be found, than I would put it like this: while 'eien' is explained as 'lasting eternally', 'towa' stands for 'being unchanged forever', and is used in negative combinations, such as 'parting forever'.
4. you can find an alternative translation here, a good one I think. both me and the other translator came to the conclusion that the line 'you were with me' means that the other person was with the narrator in her dreams about the unseen land, because the line starts with それでも - 'still', 'nevertheless', which implies that even when she imagines another reality, she wants him to be with her.
5. the line in brackets 'someday...' is not sung, and the previous line contains the name 'Mathilde'. the explanation can be found in the web easily, for example here, of course in Japanese. the best answer chosen in the link I provided shows the peculiar Japanese way of thinking - ability to find associations, links, think deeply and explain implied, hidden meaning. Mathilde is a heroine of The Hairdresser's Husband, a woman who SPOILER committed suicide because she was extremely happy and wanted to prolong that happiness eternally END OF SPOILER. the previous line in the song says 'I become scared when my whole body is filled with satisfaction', that's why the narrator associates herself with Mathilde. the unsung line 'Someday when it will surely end, in little time' remains a mystery, but I liked the explanation by the same person in the discussion on the yahoo service: the narrator thinks so, but does not want to pronounce it, does not want to admit it, that's why the line is omitted. if we compare this line with the line 'And to heal us, I remembered that. Heart-rending, in little time', we can see that both end in 'in little time', which could mean that they were both supposed to be the last line of the verse, but the second verse was changed later.
6. actually the translation could not show it, but the lines 'I want to live strongly, so that it never withers' are slightly different in the original. the first one says 枯れないくらい, which, in my mind, implies that the love won't be able to wither, that there won't be any preconditions for it to start withering. it's like that after many years she looks back at her life and says 'oh, it hasn't withered!' the second time it says 枯れないように, which means that the narrator will do her best to keep the love alive, live properly with the purpose of not letting the love wither. of course, this is only my version, which is more or less subjective.
7. however that may be, 'In Little Time' is one of the best songs of Garnet Crow, moreover, one of their earliest compositions. and you know what. I understand the wish to end your life while it's still filled with happiness