風の記憶　Kaze no kioku | Memory of the wind
artist: 熊木杏里 Kumaki Anri
discs: 	Atarashii Watashi ni Natte (single)
	Kaze no Naka no Koushin (album)

lyrics, music: 熊木杏里 Kumaki Anri 
arrangement: 吉俣郎 Yoshimata Ryou

translation by iconoclastiac @ gmail.com
http://melodycafe.iconoclastiac.net/lyrics/

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青い地球が　私の胸に
夜に浮かぶ満月をくれた
大地の花が　私の胸に
沈まない太陽をくれた

人と出会う横には　いつもある
いつか分かれに変わる夕凪が

風をくぐって　海を越えたら
君が宝島になる
ひとかけらの夢は
揺れを帯びてる魚のように
よこぎってゆく季節
君と叶える奇跡

明日の上を　鳥たちが飛ぶ
夜明けまでに間に合うように
船の汽笛は　はじまりの音
見えない矢印を浮かべて

君と過ごした短い記憶が
いつか長く伸びて迎えにくる

風を頼りに　目を閉じたとき
君が宝島になる
夢を飾りながら
珊瑚のように波にゆられて
気がついてゆく季節
ひと続きのこの旅

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aoi chikyuu ga   watashi no mune ni
yoru ni ukabu mangetsu wo kureta
daichi no hana ga   watashi no mune ni
shizumanai taiyou wo kureta
	The blue earth planted in my heart
	the full moon floating in the night sky.
	The flowers of the earth planted in my heart
	a sun that never sets.

hito to deau yoko ni wa   itsumo aru
itsuka wakare ni kawaru yuunagi ga
	Along with new encounters   there is always
	the calm twilight that someday becomes a farewell

kaze wo kugutte   umi wo koetara
kimi ga takarajima ni naru
hitokakera no yume wa
yure wo obiteru sakana no you ni
yokogitte yuku kisetsu
kimi to kanaeru kiseki
	If I pass through the wind and cross the ocean,
	you become a treasure island.
	The fragments of my dream scatter
	like goldfish when the water ripples.
	The passage of the seasons
	The miracle that I can realize with you [1]

ashita no ue wo   tori-tachi ga tobu
yoake made ni maniau you ni
fune no kiteki wa   hajimari no oto
mienai yajirushi wo ukabete 
	The birds fly past tomorrow
	to make it by dawn.
	The ship's whistle is the sound of a beginning
	Pointing an invisible arrow [2]

kimi to sugoshita mijikai kioku ga
itsuka nagaku nobite mukae ni kuru
	Someday, the brief memories we had together
	will lengthen and come back to meet us [3]

kaze wo tayori ni   me wo tojita toki
kimi ga takarajima ni naru
yume wo kazari nagara
sango no you ni nami ni yurarete
ki ga tsuiteyuku kisetsu
hitotsuzuki no kono tabi
	When I let the wind close my eyes,  [4]
	you become a treasure island,
	decorating my dream
	like a coral sea, undulating with the waves.
	Aware of the seasons that pass by 
	I continue on my travels.

==========
[1] yokogitte yuku kisetsu = "The passage of the seasons." kimi to kanaeru kiseki = "The miracle that I can realize with you." There is no particle to suggest the relationship between these two phrases. It is possible that both are fragments of the dream that scatter, from the preceeding lines of that verse. 

[2] mienai yajirushi wo ukabete: "Imagining/thinking [of]/remembering an arrow that cannot be seen." My interpretation is that the speaker imagines the ship's whistle, like an invisible arrow, pointing in the direction of the speaker's next journey. In my previous translation, I interpreted the whistle to be signalling for departure, which marks the start of the journey. 

[3] mijikai kioku ga itsuka nagaku nobite mukae ni kuru. This phrase is very difficult to express gracefully in English. More literally, the short memories (mijikai kioku) will lengthen and extend (nagaku nobite), then come back to pick us up (mukae ni kuru - as in, to pick up [from the airport], to greet [after a long journey]). The idea here is that our memories transform over time, becoming more colorful and more extensive as our minds fill in/make up details and ascribe meanings, adding to the original events that were, in fact, brief. By the time the memories come back to pick us up, they are changed from before. 

[4] kaze wo tayori ni me wo tojita toki: lit. "When I counted on (relied on) the wind to close my eyes." This implies the speaker’s eyes would otherwise remain open, but that presumably, because the wind is blowing hard enough, she has to close them, and she is thankful to the wind for making her do that.

More notes:
Every time I hear this song, I get a very specific image of wheat fields billowing in the breeze at dusk. Five years after my first attempt to translate this song (https://iconoclastiac.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/melody-cafe-file-10-kumaki-anri-kaze-no-kioku-translation/), I continue to feel that my translation does not do justice to Kumaki Anri's words, the meaning of which is conveyed by the music. 

You can see a shortened acoustic live version on Youtube HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx0Clog8Amo).