Lyrics translation. 'Emu' by Gackt

Thanks to the new interface of Blogger, my first post was entirely erased and I have to rewrite it. So be it! But, since I have no more inspiration like last time, I have to be brief. Positive songs about how we should brace ourselves and move on to achieve our dreams are all nice, but where would we be if we had no dark, possessive, desperate songs like 'Emu' - 'dreamscape'.

This song is sheer perfection.

Japanese

突然の出会いへの心からの喜びと
「いつしか終わるかもしれない」　そんな感覚(きょうふ)に怯えて
そして瞳を見つめてた
何もわからずに

どれだけの思い出も夢のような幻で
いつまでも変わることのない閉じ込められた君がいる
現在(いま)も瞳を見つめてた
何も変わらずに

手を伸ばせば届いてた微笑みは儚くて
目を閉じれば腕の中で消えていく君を
もう一度抱きたくて　あの時、あの場所で出会ったことを
忘れないから

風の中で踊る
君の姿は光に包まれていた

君だけを見つめてた
僕は瞳を見つめてた
今も君だけを見つめてる
何も変わらずに

手を伸ばせば届いてた微笑みは刹那(せつな)くて
目を閉じれば夢の中へ消えていく君を
もう一度抱きたくて
あの時、あの場所で出会ったことを
忘れないから
忘れないから


Translation

The heartfelt joy of having met you by chance
And the thought that ‘it may come to an end before I know it’ – they made me tremble with fear
Just like that, I was looking into your eyes
Not able to understand anything

All those memories, uncountable, are just illusions, like dreams
You stay unchanged, as ever, locked up
Even then, you were looking into my eyes
And nothing has changed

Your smile that I can reach if I just stretch my hand, is so fragile
And if I close my eyes, you start disappearing from my arms
So I want to embrace you once more. Because the day we met at that place –
I could never forget it

You were dancing in the wind
And you silhouette was enveloped in light

I was looking at you only
I was looking into your eyes
Even now I am looking at you only
And nothing has changed

Your smile that I can reach if I just stretch my hand, is so painful
And if I close my eyes, you start disappearing into the world of dreams
So I wanted to embrace you once more. Because the day we met at that place –
I could never forget it
I could never forget it

_____

There were many things I wanted to say, but, again, the post was erased and I'll try to rewrite it. There is a trick when a Japanese author uses a certain kanji character or combination and attributes a completely different reading to it, as if combining two meanings. Simply writing two words instead of one in the translation is not my favourite way to convey such messages, so I use 'fear', because what we hear in the songs is 'kyoufu'. However, since the kanji says 'feeling', I suppose it can mean that the dreadful thought of parting is not the only thing that leads to fear, but it's so frightful because there is the joy of meeting.

The word 'hakanai' would be 'ephemeral', but even though Japanese-English dictionaries never give such a translation, it does exist in context, as well as in Japanese-Russian dictionaries, too - 'fragile' or 'frail'. I feel it's the only fitting word here.

Actually, the smile in the second refrain would also be 'ephemeral', because it's written with kanji for 'moment' - 'setsuna'. But what we hear in the song is the adjective 'setsunai', written with different kanji, which means 'painful'.

I may be less poetic than some other translators, but I hope I conveyed the feelings well.