How long?
Radiance, fading from my field of vision—
I wonder how you would be reflected
In the pupils of a crow ¹
The studded sequins
Resound
A melody, sung as though crying—
I’m going to entice you out
So even if it feels like being pushed to the brink by brutal absurdities
I’ll tear up the silence and play
A dawn song
The colour of the Dark ²
Reflects in pupils
We’ll be alright inside a vigil of a tale ³
Say a prayer for a world gone to pieces
-In the Dark-
We smile as though we’ve been broken
So let’s hold on now, to make sure we don’t part
Survive in cold blood
And if ever there’s something you lose
Anything would be better
Than being a slave to your gruesome reality
Make your black wings flutter
We’ll soar away
I know you’ll say we have to turn back—
Let’s rush ahead so we can escape
A melody, sung as though crying—
I’m going to entice you out
So even if it feels like being pushed to the brink by brutal absurdities
I’ll tear up the silence and play
The song of the dawn
Make your black wings flutter
Let’s soar away
.
NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
Blue font indicates text originally written in English in the official booklet.
oo1. The kanji used here refers specifically to the Large-billed Crow, commonly found in Japan. Curious? You can read more about this clever (and exasperating) species in this blog post and this academic paper.
oo2. I capitalized the word ‘Dark’ here to match with the way it is capitalized in the official lyrics.
oo3. In Japanese, ‘otogibanashi’ is a set phrase meaning ‘fairytale’. However, in this line, the set phrase was split, which changed the idiomatic meaning to a literal one; that is, ‘keeping another person company’ and ‘story’. I really had to wrack my brain to come up with a good way to phrase it in English (though you should still keep the idiomatic meaning in mind when considering the verse). I chose the word ‘vigil’ to represent the meaning of ‘keeping another person company’ because it has a dark, often religious connotation, and that fit well not only with the verse, but with the tone of the rest of the song.
Thoughts. This song doesn’t speak of literal flight or escape, but rather a mental, imagined one. That is no less powerful. Anything would be better than a gruesome reality, so say a prayer and take refuge in a story with each other. As humans we create and engage in this kind of escapism all the time, shaping and healing our mindscapes with our imaginations, and in concert with others’ imaginations.
アリス九號. ★ ALICE NINE.
AFTER DARK
Medley (2021)
Lyrics by 将/Shou
Music by 将/Shou
Original text translated from Japanese.
Listen via your preferred digital platform.
If you’d like to share the translation, please link to this page; you can also find the translation posted as a comment to the official Youtube video. Do not repost it. Thank you ♡