Translation: myself
Lyrics: Sakai Mitsuki
Music: Kujou Takemasa
煉獄 [Rengoku]
Purgatory
"I am a puppet* being in great
demand"
...Prey of the afterlife (1)...
"Human body that cannot move is
full of grudges"
Now, the long awaited evening of
exposition* begins
Licking one's lips in the love of
discharging lies...
Smeared in carnal desires
Gleamingly illuminating despair
When one's stabbed, flowers bloom
The red going crazy in agony while
scorching this body If I closed my eyelids, sea of purgatory
[could be seen]
Burnt to black scream is crawling and
revolving from the inflamed throat Pouring rain of scorn
Ah...
I have been burnt out in pain Painted in distorted colors of rainbow
If the ferry to prison is more likely
to become the muddy boat, I'd take the one way road...
To die by drowning in vomit and excreta
Disgorge...
Disgorge...
Disgorge...
Disgorge...
Help me...
Voice that cannot reach [you]
Teasing and playing with If worn
out then put into a scrap cage
Day after day, keeping until death
Tonight, I'll keep screaming as well
Plucked off flower of life
Gleamingly illuminating despair
When one's stabbed, flowers bloom
The red going crazy in agony while
scorching this body If I closed my eyelids, sea of purgatory
[could be seen]
Burnt to black scream is crawling and
revolving from the inflamed throat Pouring rain of scorn
The red going crazy in agony while
scorching this body If I closed my heart, sea of purgatory [could
be felt]
Burnt to black scream becomes
completely wet, yet dries out while desperately trying to breathe Rain of dried scorn
The red going crazy in agony while
disguising in this body The sea of purgatory engulfs everything
I'm bidding the farewell to myself while uniting the palms of hands The tiny hope set in fire*, once held
in my hands, smoulders ... My dream...
I cannot receive anything anymore...
I cannot give anything anymore...
That ray of purgatory won't guide
me....
After all... I'm just a puppet* so I
was wrong I could wish for a human life...
Maybe if my wish had become true, I
thought I wanted to say only "good bye"...
But for whom...?
Footnotes:
- Wordplay: 後生 [goshou] written as 御床 meaning literally honorable sickbed
Words marked with [*] are prefixed by
character 御 / お
("honorable" in rough meaning) in original Japanese text. It usually indicates
humble language or/and things/people that belong to another person (but not to the speaker)
Discussion:
"Human body that cannot move is full of grudges".
In fact, Japanese people treat the zombie apocalypse more like a grotesque comedy, this sentence is much more deeper than you might think (nope, it's not about zombie). If you aren't familiar with any form of Buddhism at all, let me explain one thing about death in Japan - Japanese buddhist practicioners believe in the endless cycle of death and rebirth and thus, they perform a cremation which is considered a purification rite, so the soul of the deceased can peacefully take their way towards transmigration and start a brand new life. As Buddha himself was cremated and his soul transmigrated. If a cadaver was not buried properly (due to murder, war, death in unknown place, suicide etc.), its soul would wander. Such dead bodies, still holding grudges could transform their malevolent energy into supernatural forces that haunt the world of living.
Again, I noticed here a narration from the afterlife, but in a different context - someone (possibly a girl? Mitsuki used a gender-neutral pronoun - watashi - "I") who unexpectedly and prematurely passes away, but still harbors the strong will to live. They do not want to be purified and do not mind ending up as a wandering, vengeful soul as long as they are able to meet again with their cherished ones. Nonetheless, their body has been cremated in order to purify the soul, hence the title Purgatory.
Also, funny thing to notice that Mitsuki used
a word 人形 [ningyou] –
puppet, doll where it can be also very
literally translated as human-shaped thus it can be
a metaphor of a soul/spirit.
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