Request from HikarunoHikari .

Mai-ochiru konayuki ga

Yama no se wo shiroku someru

Sabireta mura no abaraya de

Futari, mi wo yoseau fuyu no yoru

"Deatta hi mo, yuki datta"

Anata ga hohoemi tsubuyaku

Iroribi ni hotetta kao wo

Ookina sode no kage ni kakushita

Haru no otozure wo

Ibuki no yorokobi saezuru tori-tachi to utau

"Kirei na koe da ne" to anata ga itta

Tada sore ga, sono kotoba ga, ureshikute

"Itsuka, kirei na koe ga denaku natte mo,

Sore demo, watashi wo aishite kuremasu ka?"

"Atarimae da yo" tte yasashiku warai

Sotto ookina te ga hoo wo nadeta

Aoba teru natsu no gogo

Anata ga yamai ni taoreta

Mazushii meoto kurashi de wa

Anata wo naosu kusuri wa kaenai

Akuruhi mo akuruhi mo

Tada, hitasura ni hata wo oru

Hakanaki momiji no ha no you ni

Anata no inochi wo, chirase wa shinai

Kisetsu wa nagarete

Natsu no owari wo tsugeru suzumushi ga RIN, to naku

"Kirei na yubi da ne" to kizu darake no te wo nigiru, sono te ga

Amari ni mo tsumetakute...

"Itsuka kirei na yubi ga nakunatte mo,

Sore demo watashi wo aishite kuremasu ka?"

"Atarimae da yo" tte seki komi nagara

Itamu yubi wo ookina te ga tsutsunda

Hiru mo yoru mo hata wo ori-tsudzukete

(――Aa)

Hayaku hayaku, kusuri wo kawanakereba...

(rakujitsu no kaze――)

Mou sukoshi, ato sukoshi, momiji ga chiru mae ni

(――Mujou ni kuchite iku mi no――)

Kono yubi ga tomaru made... kono hane ga, tsukiru made...

(――Tomoshibi wo yurashi otosu――)

"Itsuka, watashi ga HITO ja nakunatte mo,

Anata wa, watashi wo aishite kuremasu ka?"

Kowakute shinjitsu wa tsugerarenu mama

Sotto hitori, saigo no hane wo ori...

"Atarimae da yo" tte boku wa warai

Tsubasa wo nakushita kimi wo dakishime, itta

Kirei ni habataita ano hi no tsuru wo

Zutto, ima demo oboete iru yo

Soshite kawarazu kimi wo aishite iru yo

**************

The powdery snow flutters down,

coloring the mountain ridge white

The two inside a run-down house in a desolate village

huddle together in the winter night

"It'd also been snowing the day we'd met,"

you murmured with a smile

And I'd hidden my face flushed from the hearth

within the shadow of your large sleeve

With a breath of joy,

I sang of spring's arrival along with the chirping birds

"Your voice is beautiful," you told me,

and that alone, just those words, made me so happy

"If someday, I no longer had this beautiful voice,

would you still, even then, love me?"

"Of course," you said, smiling gently

as your large hand softly stroked my cheek

One leaf-lit summer afternoon,

you collapsed from illness

Our poor married life

couldn't afford the medicine to cure it

The next day, along with the following,

I did nothing but intently weave

I wouldn't let your life

fall like the short-lived autumn leaves

The seasons flow by

The bell crickets mark the end of summer with their cries

"Your fingers are beautiful," you told me,

gripping my wound-covered Hands,

but yours were much too cold...

"If someday, I no longer had these beautiful fingers,

would you still, even then, love me?"

"Of course," you said, coughing

as your large hands caressed my hurting fingers

Day and night, don't stop weaving

(――Ah)

Hurry, hurry, I need to buy the medicine...

(the sunset's breeze――)

Just a bit more, only a bit more; before the autumn leaves fall

(―― sways the ruthlessly decaying fruit's flame ――)

Until these fingers can't move... Until these feathers are used up...

(―― until it goes out ――)

"If someday, I were no longer a human,

would you still love me?"

The truth I feared left unable to be told,

I softly pluck the final feather alone...

"Of course," I say, smiling

I promised I'd embrace you when you lost your wings

And that crane which had beautifully taken flight that day,

I've never forgotten, and still remember, even now

And just like always, I love you