Here is part of the lyrics of Mai Kuraki's Time After Time:
風舞う花びらが
水面を撫でるように
大切に想うほど切なく…
人は皆 孤独と言うけれど
探さずにはいられない 誰かを
儚く壊れやすいものばかり
追い求めてしまう
Time after time
君と色づく街で
出逢えたらもう約束はいらない
誰よりもずっと傷付きやすい君の
そばにいたい今度はきっと
The full lyrics can be found here, in case someone wants to see them. This passage I translate to:
The flower petals dancing in the wind
Seem to be stroking the water's surface
The more [I] believe [they] are important, the more [I] suffer…
Although all people say they are lonely (lit. "say «loneliness»")
[They look for] someone [they] can't depend on if [they] don't look for [them]
[But] only fragile and transient things
[They] end up pursuing
Time after time
If with you in the city of changing hues
[I] were to meet, [I] would never need promises
Of you, who are always easier to wound than anyone,
I want to stay at the side, this time, surely.
I have a couple of questions:
The main question is about
探さずにはいられない 誰かを
. Analyzing it, I seesagasazu
, fromsagasu
, to look for, which is a negative connective form, sonot looking for
, thenni
, stessing the "adverbial" nature ofsagasazu
,wa
, marking the lot as a topic,irarenai
, negative potential ofiru
(要る
, I take it, but surely not居る
),to depend on
,to need
,dareka
,someone
, andwo
, markingdareka
as object. So the translation should be:someone (obj) from whom [they] cannot depend if without looking for [him/her]
The question of course is: what is the verb holding this object? The subject is probably
mina
in the line above, as in the whole verse, meaningeveryone
.Then we have this "water's surface", which has come out of nothing since I don't remember anything before or afterwards referring to water, so what water is it?
- What is the subject of
大切に想うほど切なく…
? - Why do some translations refer the "always" to "I want to be" when
zutto
is in the middle of the relative clausedare yori mo zutto kizutsuki yasui kimi
? - The
mono
inkoware yasui mono
, is it者
(people) or物
(things)?