Though this song has been around for a while, I think I hadn’t heard it until now. My first thought was “this sounds like it should be the ending theme for a movie.”

miko explained this song in her bilingual “self liner notes” series on her blog. The most important part is right at the beginning, where she explains the two ways this song can be interpreted. Please read it for yourself, here: https://ameblo.jp/existtrace-miko/entry-12945202917.html

Lyrics in Japanese can be found here: https://linkco.re/zq78xA3C/songs/4039761/lyrics?lang=ja

⭐︎

Hitohira

unmei no hi wa itsudemo totsuzen ni kata wo daku
kataku me wo tojite mo kienai owakare no senkoku

sukoshi dake boku ni yuuyo wo kureta nara
ikanaide to ieta no kana

konayuki ga tokete dareka ga mezameru koro
bokutachi wa aishiteta
yasashii kimi no te hokorobu awai hanabira
surinukeochitetta
hitohira

modoranai to wakatte mo mou kore de saigo dakara
boku wa ima te to te wo hanasu iiwake sagashiteru

toozakaru kimi ga nijimidasu
waratte miokureta kana
hontou wa kowakute kanashikute

konayuki ga tokete dareka ga waraiau koro
bokutachi wa sayounara
maiochiru sakura no sono mukougawa ni kimi no
omokage sagashite wa
itakute

mata haru ga kuru yo
osanai kiokutachi ga
sotto ima waratta

konayuki ga tokete dareka ga mezameru koro
boku wa zutto aishiteru
yasashii kimi no te hokorobu awai hanabira
surinuke kienaide

tsuyoku hakanakute utsukushiku moeru hana yo
ima kimi wo dakishimete
todokanai boku no kawari ni sora wo koeru
chigiresouna omoi wa
“itsuka douka kimi ni awasete”

A Single Petal

Life-changing days always take you by surprise
Even if you shut your eyes tight it doesn’t go away:
This is goodbye¹

If I’d had a little more time
Would I have been able to say “don’t go”?

The snow had melted as people were waking up
We loved each other then
The pale petals splitting up in your gentle hands
Fell through your fingers
A single petal

Even though I know you can’t come back, this will be the last time so…
I’m trying to find an excuse to let go of your hand

You’re getting blurry as you go further away
Could I have seen you off with a smile?
Even though this is actually scary and sad

The snow had melted as people were laughing together
We parted then
Searching for traces of you
beyond the falling sakura petals
Hurts

Hey, spring will come again!
My childish memories
Laugh gently now

The snow has melted as people wake up
I’ve loved you this whole time²
Your gentle hand, the pale petals opening up
Don’t slip through and disappear

O strong, fleeting, beautifully burning flowers
They’re embracing you now
Since I can’t get there, cross the sky in my stead
The thought that tears me apart is
“Let me reach you someday, somehow”³

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^1. I originally wrote this opening with words closer to those of the original grammatically speaking, but I thought it sounded ugly and unnatural. But for what it’s worth, it was “Fated days always tap you on the shoulder suddenly / Even if you shut your eyes tight it doesn’t go away: the announcement of parting.” ⤴

^2. The three choruses begin with this mention of melted snow, and the first line of each is in non-past tense. However, the second line is in past tense the first time, the tense is left unstated the second time, and is in non-past the third time. So, I’m interpreting the first two choruses as telling the story of what had happened, whereas the third and final chorus is the speaker telling us about their life in the present moment. The sound of a clock ticking before the last chorus also points to the passage of time. ⤴

^3. I’m not sure what we’re meant to interpret as the thing that will “cross the sky” on behalf of the speaker. Since this chorus coda begins with what seems to be a direct address to the sakura (the purpose of the sentence-final よ “yo” here), when only reading the lyrics I interpret it as the sakura will cross the sky and embrace the person who is gone on behalf of the speaker. But when listening to the song, it seems more like it’s “the thought that tears me apart” that is crossing the sky. ⤴

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I turned my old laptop on to check, but apparently I didn’t take a single good photo of sakura myself in the four years I lived in Japan. I found some shots that I took in Sapporo at the Former Hokkaido Government Building when I visited in April of 2016, but I’m not sure that the flowers in those photos are cherry blossoms. So the photo in the header comes from Wikipedia, uploaded by user SLIMHANNYA. It shows the “ukon” variety of yellow sakura. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom#/media/File:%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E8%BF%91%E6%8E%A5.jpg