Long introduction. Jump to lyrics here.

I’ve really been enjoying The Only Garden and was thinking of jumping to a few tracks from there, but it seems lyrics have not been officially released to online sites, and since I bought the EP from iTunes I don’t have the liner notes. Assuming the physical copy came with some. So I’ve gone back to Twin Gate.

When I started posting exist†trace translations, I said I was doing so to have one site with good translations of all their songs. By “good,” I mean translations that are true to the original lyrics and sound like natural English, not translationese. Granted, my definition of “natural English” is really “natural, mostly modern American English.”

Still, the point stands. While more fans have taken on this kind of project in the six years since I started, with the first translation I posted here being “Yume ni Kisu wo” back in 2014, as far as I’ve seen, I don’t think there’s one site with translations of all exist†trace songs that are good according to these criteria. So, though my pace is slow, I will carry on with this task, as I believe only natural English can do justice to the songs for fans who don’t know Japanese and have no intention of spending a decade becoming fluent in it.

And so we come to “Decide.” It seems fitting for this point in time, even though it’s not about anything political. At least, I don’t think it is, though the lyrics are vague enough that they could be. Or rather, whether people like to admit it or not, or if they think they can escape the influence of politics by simply not paying attention to them, in a situation such as the one the United States is currently in, it’s pretty clear that politics can and do have an impact on our daily lives. I just hope and pray enough of my fellow Americans decide to believe the country can be better than the disgrace the current administration has put it in.

Anyway, lyrics in Japanese can be found on rocklyric.jp.

☆

DECIDE

tomaranai kaze no naka de kawashita yakusoku
yagate subete kuchihatete mo futari wo tsunagu to shinjite

totsuzen ni kawaru sora ni kimi wa kanashiku
ano koro wa yokatta ne to itta

kisetsu wa sugi ushinawaresou na kako mo
kakageta ude ni fuhen no akashi wo misete

tomaranai kaze no naka de kawashita yakusoku
yagate subete kuchihatete mo futari wo tsunagu to shinjite

furueru tsumetai asa mo kizu nameatte
tashikana henka sae mo nai mama

mayoinagara tachidomatteshimau ima mo*
kakageta ude ni shinka no akashi wo misete

tomaranai kaze no naka de kawashita yakusoku
yagate subete kuchihatete mo futari wo tsunagu to shinjite

mune ni saita kibou to fuan no mirai mo
kakageta ude ni mamori no akashi wo misete

tomaranai kaze no naka de kawashita yakusoku
yagate subete kuchihatete mo futari wo tsunagi

hirakareta tobira no saki ni hanatsu kono uta
itsuka futari waraeru made eien ni hibikaseru kara

mayoi no nai ketsudan no saki he

*Here Jyou sings “ima” (“now”) for the written lyric 現在 (“genzai,” meaning “[the] present”)

DECIDE

Believe that the promise we exchanged in the ceaselessly blowing wind
Will bind us together even if everything rots in the end

At the sudden change in the sky, you said sadly,
“Things were better before, weren’t they?”

The seasons pass, along with the ever-fading past
Show me proof of the unchanging in your upraised arms

Believe that the promise we exchanged in the ceaselessly blowing wind
Will bind us together even if everything rots in the end

We licked each other’s wounds even on mornings of shivering cold
With no definite change in sight

Even now, when we’ve stopped completely in our lost wanderings,
Show me proof of evolution in your upraised arms

Believe that the promise we exchanged in the ceaselessly blowing wind
Will bind us together even if everything rots in the end

The hopes that have blossomed in my heart, and the anxiety for the future
Show me proof in your upraised arms that you’ll protect them

The promise we exchanged in the ceaselessly blowing wind
Will bind us together even if everything rots in the end

Because I’ll keep sending this song through the opened door forever
Until the day the two of us can laugh

Where an unwavering decision will take us