Kasai City 河西市

朱赤に塗ってある米蔵
その隣の八百屋に入り
畑で鍛えられたお兄さんから
トマトを買ってしまう
友達は花を

A silo, carrying burgundy rooves from the 80's
We enter the greengrocer's next door
It doesn't take much for the man with the tight body
to convince me to buy his tomatoes
My friend gets his flowers

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短い運転の後
友達がお墓を掃除する
上京した昔の人は
同じようにはしないだろう
友達は枯れた花を入れ替える

Another 10 minutes in the car
before he cleans the family graves
I think back to a bygone love, now ensconced in Tokyo
doubting he would come back to do the same
My friend replaces the wilting flowers with fresh ones

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レトロな駅の側で
ぬくもり卵かけごはん
卵黄って、ルビーの赤！
突然過ぎ去る
肩幅広く、男前の顔
電車に乗って過去に消える
木霊はそうした方がいいだろう

A visit to a station, a façade of before
We chance upon raw eggs on rice
with blazing ruby yolks
But as I eat I'm distracted:
The broadest of shoulders and most handsome of faces
boards a train and disappears into the past
like all echoes should perhaps

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笠松山を二人で登る
展望台からすべてが目に入る
朱赤に塗ってある米蔵も
北条鉄道の電車も
秋の山も赤くなるのか

My friend and I reach the top of Mt. Kasamatsu
From the observation deck we see so much red
The silo
The Hojo line trains
Perhaps in the autumn, the mountains too

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昔の人の出身地も
山の向こう、姫路の方
友達には言えない
こっちに帰ってこないと
信じたくないことを

And beyond the mountains, towards Himeji
his hometown
I fail to tell my friend
how I still cannot fathom
that he won't come back

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Cover image by Brendan Howells