「Trimming」

So
That is
A gesture hardly done
A phrase rarely said
That had flashed but once
Surely concealed since long
“I don’t wanna fail...” the fingertip wrote in the air
But from the other side it read as a proof of hope that laid behind
This I almost said out loud so I let the wind take over
To flick the coward off your other shoulder
We shook and nudged, was able to shove it out
So you cooled and missed, got carried away
Strolling about, now you can walk in an upswing
The toes that were just dragging, stride over the grass
The heart of the red puffy eyelids stare at the clear blue sky
And says, “I’m not crying.”
So the last drop quietly falls into the easy, dewy water
That vaporizes to meet the clouds
Always buried inside your heart
The lid already shut
A landscape of outlines
Lights up with colors easily with fate
Unafraid blinking advances the pieces in view

All these views that I want to share
Cameras can’t snap
And words will make hollow
Making me want to take you along

I’m so easily influenced
Changing all the time without realizing
Putting on a show alone in my room
Wearing clothes that I won’t outside

You decide when to ebb from the smallest demeanor of others
Run before they discard you, no longer needed in their memory
A drifter wandering through the torrent of people will naturally bring in fresh air
But you also dodge growing tree rings
Or settling that lets settle
Repeating the push and pull
Playing constant politics which
Doesn’t add up to your tree rings
Never asked for it but they follow you around
You seat yourself cautiously
Your one arm still holding up somehow
Could it be, could it be the last
This could be, this could really be the last

The threat tells the body
Your one arm that is somehow still holding up
Some can’t bear seeing it
Some has gotten used to seeing it
Some has seen through it
And some is seeing it off

Veiling whispers will make things soft, so spit them out as much as you can
Before you can no longer bear the strength of sense

All these views that I want to share
Cameras can’t snap
And words will make hollow
Making me want to take you along

「Curry Party / The Japanese Curry Party」

So much hassle chopping up beef
So much hassle chopping up veggies
So much hassle chopping up onions
So much hassle when they make me cry

So much hassle washing rice
So much hassle cooking rice
So much hassle stir frying meat
So much hassle frying veggies as well

So much hassle especially with the onions
So much hassle until they’re golden
So much hassle moving them to the pan
So much hassle then adding water

So much hassle letting it simmer
So much hassle skimming off the scum
So much hassle melting the roux
So much hassle the curry’s done

So much hassle, so much hassle, this curry party’s such a hassle

So much hassle, so much hassle, friends are coming and what a hassle

So much hassle letting them in
So much hassle in a hubbub
So much hassle for them to feel home
So much hassle in a huge whirl

So much hassle dishing out rice
So much hassle pouring curry
So much hassle then serving curry
So much hassle for so many heads

So much hassle eating all together
So much hassle saying it’s good or not
So much hassle spilling drinks
So much hassle with dishcloth to wipe

So much hassle when the food is gone
So much hassle out with the ashtray
So much hassle out with the booze
So much hassle getting drunk

So much hassle, so much hassle, this curry party’s such a hassle

So much hassle, so much hassle, friends have come and what a hassle

So much hassle with their turned up voice
So much hassle them knocking down booze
So much hassle in this smokey room
So much hassle showing them the loo

So much hassle listening to them talk
So much hassle hearing it through
So much hassle with all their bitching
So much hassle with all their boasting

So much hassle playing games
So much hassle teaching the rules
So much hassle with the superior face
So much hassle or with the subordinate face

So much hassle just looking at their face
So much hassle being looked at too
So much hassle spending the time
So much hassle, in my face

So much hassle, so much hassle, this curry party’s such a hassle

So much hassle, so much hassle, friends are coming and what a hassle

So much hassle doing dishes
So much hassle with all the dried food
So much hassle remembering it now
So much hassle with all the memory

「Taresokare / Who's There In The Dusk」

Slouched on a bus at dusk
I looked out the smudged window
And for the first time it popped in my mind
How my world and I have grown old

Things I haven’t felt
And things I haven’t thought
Things I didn’t know
And things I’ll come to know

Uplifting stories and depressing affairs
Topics that can't be ignored as someone else’s
They happen out of the blue
And are remembered, forgotten and moved onward

Some memories can be recalled
Some deserted
Gazing blankly at what’s in sight
It’s all just like the fleeting scene

Passing by the dusty mountains
Passing by the crumbling houses
Passing by the cleared city
And passing by the throbbing sea

As the dusk blurs
Beyond the smudged window
Outline slowly disappears
To reveal the time of night

A light is lit beyond the mountains
In a city which name I do not know
There, somebody is living
Heading back home just like myself

Approaching Tokyo
I see the neon lights glinting
Shining on people's lives
Singing a melody of the gentle lights

At dusk, it popped in my mind
That I had grown old
Come tomorrow and that thought
Would soon be forgotten faultlessly

Maybe sometime in the near future
I'll think about things in the same manner
And of all the city lights I had seen today
There may be some that I’ll be able to recall

People live, as many as there are lights
Illuminating a way for somebody else
Or casting light at the present time and place
And yearning, as many as there are people

I’m going to stride through Tokyo
As the neon lights glints above
Shining on people’s lives
As the gentle city lights soothe

「Oyasumi / Sleep Tight」

Sleep tight
A pillow propped up in a way to pass time
Sleep tight
A switched-on head in a room without light
Sleep tight
A story cut off, left half-read
Sleep tight
A tail of an answer almost in my hand
Sleep tight
The paranoiac thinking looping around
Sleep tight
That secret love crouched down
Sleep tight
You’ll soon realize it’s been too late

Go on and sleep tight

Don’t ask for a thing from tomorrow
Just sleep tight

Sleep tight
To the rebellious faucet
Sleep tight
To the noisy fridge
Sleep tight
To me, a raconteur and a good listener
Sleep tight
To me, with a surprising spark of inspiration

Sleep tight
To the darkness, eerily quiet
Sleep tight
To the darkness, my friend
Sleep tight
To these feet that walk with all their intent
Sleep tight
To this fool that strains perseveringly
Go, on, and sleep tight

Don’t ask for a thing from tomorrow
Just sleep tight

「Ii Jikan / A Real Good Time」

Out of the blue, time dropped by
Or so it felt with the air that flowed
As I sensed someone I gazed
At the goodness barging against my chest

Could it be the time?
Could it be the weather?
Could it be the view?
Or could it be my age?

Hid my tears with an abashed grin
Looked for words but then had choked
With the sound of my slow inhale
And wished no one would see me in this state

Then I was suddenly so very thirsty
And took a sip of now tepid tea
At that moment our eyes met
And you smiled, sniffling your nose in a duet

Could it be the time?
Could it be the weather?
Could it be the view?
Or could it be our age?

Time dropped by, a real good time
It's been a while, a real good time

Time dropped by, a real good time
Could it be now, a real good time

Just because we thought of none
Doesn't mean we were doing none
It's just that there was none to be said
About this time that's special to none

No one forgets
Though as always no one reminisces
But it needs just a flukey chance
For this gentle seconds to flow

Could it be the time?
Could it be the weather?
Could it be the view?
Or could it be my age?

Time dropped by, a real good time
It's been a while, a real good time

Time dropped by, a real good time
Could it be now, a real good time

Memories that were buried for some reason
Boasts that stuck for some reason
Both arose in synch for some reason
And wafted me lightly for some reason

While this air cradled me
I also knew it was soon to pass
As I sensed the end I gazed
And noticed I was hungry

Could it be the time?
Could it be the weather?
Could it be the view?
Or could it be my age?

Time dropped by, a real good time
It's been a while, a real good time

Time dropped by, a real good time
Could it be now, a real good time

Time dropped by, a real good time
It's been a while, a real good time

Time dropped by, a real good time
Could it be now, a real good time

「Gonna Rain」

Striding across in thin-soled shoes

Through the heavy rain
Through the heavy rain I ran

It’s gonna rain for my birthday

Found then sealed with lips

Imprisoned
Imprisoned memories

「The Nap」

The drowsiness at 2PM is a luscious mandarin that melts jaws
In idle indulgence a nymph comes swimming from the moony sunshine
And plucks away to soften once linguistically competent thinking
Now I save what I see as I see
And burn the sound I hear as I hear
The Nap God deviates in bebop while sandman swims
The looping life, limp with gravity, returns to the scent of flowers and grass

Melting time

The story always over on the way

When does this story end?

「Siren Syrup」

Dragged baggy youth lusts for love to this day
Making me crave to bite into Syrup — an additive so toxically saccharine

Candy says “Provoke my stimulus"

Your hypersensitive skin wears red additive
Making the faint wicked mirage dance in the sandstorm

"Take me to the depth of the sea where the cold won’t let me utter a word”

Says you

You must be out of your mind

Men, eyes dilated, shatter love on any day
Reality trifles you night after night so you reach for that sweet additive

Candy says “Cradle me for a second"

At that moment, the world for two springs out in the sandstorm

I hold her from behind so tightly she can’t utter a word

And tell her my affection, I must be out of my mind

We're both out of our minds

「Kiri-fuda / Ace Up the Sleeve」

Within the office, a three of diamonds
Between friends, a seven of clubs
Growing up, an eight of spades

You evaluate me
Within your game
Selfishly

Unable to read me
You rudely portray
To assess and pigeonhole
Selfishly

I will never be your foolish hand
But you would never see that, would you,
Selfishly

「Sanaka / While You」

While you talk behind someone’s back
While you care about people’s opinions
While you do the math on the profit made
While you sing your justice song
While you sing your justification song
While you score with your moaning and rumbling

I

While you snicker out of sarcasm
While you carp at someone’s remark
While you brush off ‘cause it’s not your problem
While you enjoy looking down on
While you deliver a smart ass speech
While you be you, hoggish and low

I

With this 6PM sky
The words that had piled inside this body
Are cleansed, emptied and then once again
Trying to support with fresh phrases
Trying to somehow maintain myself
Struggled
To be free

Add to the verse
Your anger
Add to the verse