A certain sunny afternoon that was noisy, dull in colour
A boy who had lost his words smiled
At an aria that weeps, waxing like the moon
We stumble, hurt, at the edge of a distant galaxy
Broken and grieving, we met
Grasp at, run for the thing you want to catch hold of
Time won’t slowly wait
Knock on the “door” till you break it,
And to the ends of the path you believed in, dash up and away
Having lost something, being sad about something, at this place, we gathered
Star without a name, only just for now, let’s wait together for the morning sun
Fall into a dance through the wind, song of sorrow
(when falling and dancing, flowers will bloom)
For thousands of nights, let’s play music together, us two
With a word that is ours alone
Eras flow, even were their shapes to alter
And like this, my heart is always at your side
Let’s pray for an irreplaceable tomorrow—
Though people make mistakes, no one can disavow you
Transform daydream to reality, and make of the future a collage
Within the brilliance rings out a constellation,
Rings out, at present, the meaning of living
And now the void is conscious of colour; a paintbrush begins to run
Fall into a dance through the wind, song of sorrow
(when falling and dancing, flowers will bloom)
For thousands of nights, let’s play music together, us two,
Hold close the story for eternity
Once more, snow falls, dyeing all unto the horizon in white—
The heavens, profound, swallow us down
――Blessing of Life
――Eternal Galaxies
――White Reverberation
――Parade to the Future
Graced the beautiful name
(And I sing)Buzz love song
So that the melody to the future doesn’t come to an end
Let’s draw the curtain closed with a smile
Barefoot, we ran the distance of a lightyear
(The joint reverberations of lightyears—universal gravitation)
Surely, we’ll be able to meet again
Star without a name, only just for now, let’s wait together for the morning sun
Fall into a dance through the wind, song of sorrow
(when falling and dancing, flowers will bloom)
For thousands of nights, let’s play music together, us two
Until dawn comes
We make of the path we’ve walked a story;
In order for meaning to continue “eternally”
I ignite the life of this moment—
At the end of the world
Let’s meet once more
.
NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
Blue font indicates text originally written in English in the official booklet.
Thoughts. This song is one that Saga began composing early on during the pandemic, not necessarily intending for it to be released as an ALICE NINE. song, and after it was done said that the sounds had come together naturally. Its grand, joyous scale is a beautifully complex amalgam of everyone’s musical brushstrokes, Show and Saga’s soaring vocal harmony carrying the listener through to the final notes, passing through a burst of brilliant sound.
It’s sublime.
The lyrics describe a love that is sure, and whole, and filled with quiet camaraderie. They’re subtle, filled with fantastic imagery—it doesn’t matter whether the love is platonic or romantic, the intimacy is clear.
So much of the album GRACE is dark in tone, and so in coming to the end of that journey in sound, listening to Grace is breathtaking and uplifting. As the last song on the album, it connects, both in terms of its sound and of its lyrics, to the first song on their album VANDALIZE: the beautiful name. GRACE was crafted to be the third in a trilogy of Saga-led albums, the sequel to their album GEMINI. But in listening to to Grace until the end, you come to understand that it leads naturally, and ever so beautifully, back onto the familiar and beloved path of their song the beautiful name.
It is not so much a trilogy as a circle of albums, an uroboros—
A harmonic loop of eternity.
.
アリス九號. ★ Grace → GRACE (将・2022)
ALICE NINE. – Grace | From GRACE (Show – 2022)
Original song composed by Saga.
Original text translated from Japanese.
Listen via your preferred streaming service.
If you’d like to share the translation, please link to this page. Do not repost it. Thank you.
Translation also on the Alice9Lives Archive.