With its allusions and vivid imagery (and the occasional obscure kanji), this song is just like a poem set to music. Beautiful.

「Lunar Maria」– 小野大輔
“Lunar Maria” – Ono Daisuke

“Our love was written in the heavens the night the stars fell to earth.”

Note: Lunar maria (singular “mare” = “sea” in Latin) are the dark plains on the surface of the moon that were created by volcanic eruptions and the deposition of basalt. To early astronomers, the plains resembled seas or oceans.

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Translation:

Nestled close beneath the moonlight / led in circles by the sound of your voice
Your words pierce my heart / more dear to me than any poem

Our love was written in the heavens the night the stars fell to earth
The sight took my breath away / lost in the sea of time
Break the spell that condemned us
If these words chance to reach you, someway or somehow
Let us abandon any and all else…

Falling into the oblivion of the Lunar Maria / our sorrow adrift on the water’s surface
Let us depart, with the crescent moon as our ship / I want you and no other
The ephemeral warmth that vanished like foam on the waves / I long to feel it, just once more
Ah… I cannot contain these desires
Even if that means I must deceive the very gods

My own destiny is reflected / in the fateful encounter of Adam and Eve
For they savored the taste of the juicy forbidden fruit on their lips

The howling winds / and surging waves
Shedding tears that slice across the heavens
How can I convey these feelings to you?
A wish that will never come true
Fleeting as the dream of a butterfly (1)
I long to stay with you, just like this…

A place beyond recollection, the Lunar Maria
A thousand dreams that will never see a conclusion
Will I find them in the distant horizon? / The sky at daybreak
Was frozen in stillness, in silence / Melt this heart of mine
Ah… Don’t waste another moment
Chase away the chill / until I’m warmer than the dawn…

A beautiful love wreathed in profound mystery (2)
Never fading, even in the endless cycle of death and rebirth (3)
Let me hold you close / just as we promised / I can hear…the beating of your heart…

Falling into the oblivion of the Lunar Maria / our sorrow adrift on the water’s surface
I don’t care if I burn in flame for this mortal sin / I want you and no other
The ephemeral warmth that vanished like foam on the waves / I long to feel it, just once more
Ah… I cannot contain these desires
Even if that means I must deceive the very gods

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Translation Notes:

(1) The phrase 「胡蝶の夢」(“kochou no yume” = “dream of the butterfly”) is probably an allusion to Taoist and philosopher Chuang Tzu’s famous “Dream of the Butterfly”. One night, Chuang Tzu dreamt he was a butterfly. Then he awoke and found himself to be Chuang Tzu once more. He writes, “Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.” Essentially, he raises a question concerning what criteria allow us to distinguish dreams from reality. More info here and here.

(2) 「幽玄」(“yuugen” = lit. “profound mystery”) was a term coined in ancient Chinese Taoist and Buddhist contexts to express the idea of essential truth beyond human understanding. The term came to denote “profundity” and depth in poetry. After the term was adopted in Japan, the famous Heian-era poets Fujiwara no Shunzei and his son, Fujiwara no Teika (who compiled the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu), expanded the meaning of “yuugen” to encompass a “subtleness of thought and emotion” and “ethereal charm”. Today, the term is related to the Japanese aesthetics of wabi and sabi. More info here.

(3) 「輪廻」(“rinne”) is the Buddhist cycle of death and rebirth (the transmigration of souls).

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Romaji:

Tsuki no hikari ni yorisoi / kimi no koe ni samayou
Mune ni shimiru kotonoha ha / donna uta yori itoshii

Koi wo egaita hoshi furu yoru to
Iki wo tometa / toki no umi
Togamerareta jubaku toite
Moshimo kimi ni todoku naraba
Nanimokamo wo suteyou…

Boukyaku no kanata Lunar Maria / minamo ni ukabu ai
Mikazuki no fune de koeyou / kimi ga hoshii kara
Utakata ni kieta nukumori wo / mou ichido dake
Ah… omoi ha tomenai
Tatoe kami wo / azamuite mo

Adamu to Ibu no deai ni / ono ga sadame kasanete
Shitataru kindan no kajitsu wo / kuchibiru goshi ni ajiwau

Fuki susabu kaze / oshi yoseru nami
Ten wo kirisaku rakurui
Nani wo sureba kimi ni tsutau?
Kanawanu yume / kochou no yume
Isso kono mama kimi to…

Tsuioku no kanata Lunar Maria
Mihatenu sen no yume
Suihei no saki ni aru no ka? akatsuki no sora ga
Seijaku no naka de itetsuita / kono kokoro wo
Ah… ima sugu tokashite
Yoake yori mo / sou atatakaku…

Utsukushiki yuugen no omoi / ikudo no rinne ni mo asezu
Dakishimeru / yakusoku dakara / kikoeru yo… kimi no hanatsu kodou ga…

Boukyaku no kanata Lunar Maria / minamo ni ukabu ai
Daizai ni yakarete mo ii / kimi ga hoshii kara
Utakata ni kieta nukumori wo / mou ichido dake
Ah… omoi ha tomenai
Tatoe kami wo / azamuite mo

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I’ve also translated “Akatsuki no Wadachi”, the second track from this CD.

Check out another translation of “Lunar Maria” (and a bunch of other wonderful translations) here. c: