Reminiscence

It all started with a song. The song of an angel's voice, the soft whisper - intoxicating, captivating. It brought me to a drifting slumber, embraced in a swirling dream of the past, dancing in a slow monochrome waltz. With each breath, I felt the essence, the soul of the time, emanating and engulfing me in a blanket of warmth. A cascade of emotions overwhelmed me, feelings of the past, of trepidation and jubilation, feelings long forgotten. The song is Ayumi Hamasaki - Dearest.

It was just another song upon my stacks of albums, but due to fate, I chanced upon this song and old memories came back to me, memories of a person who presence I had begun to take for granted, memories of uncertainty, memories of happiness. They were stacked framed and sealed in my heart, like albums gone dusty from years of being untouched. And there, a song took it out, dusted it and added luster to a fading image, of a time where it all began; to a time where I met my dearest.

It is amazing how music is able to capture life in a string of notes, playing the ups and downs of life in its melody, giving a sense of serenity within its mathematical complexity. The soulful aspect of memories is that it gives us comfort, of knowing that we made it despite the odds of that time, that it build us and make us each a person in our own rights. But over time these memories fade into oblivion, to a mere white wash against a black backdrop of a void in our minds. Perhaps it is due to the busy schedules of life or the hectic strive for the As in the numerous hordes of examinations, that these memories in every one of us are fading. Or is it just that we are afraid of the past, of the mistakes that we made, of the people we upset, that we cannot face up to these people even in memory.

But well, even as we stop to ponder, the sails of time is gently passing by us, never stopping. We could only watch in wonder as the world of events unfold its page upon us, and leading us towards a new adventure again, but if given a chance, to dust away the speckles of dust upon those frames, I shall look upon them and smile, glad of those times, of those memories, of those loved ones.

The following is the song Dearest by Ayumi Hamasaki in Japanese followed by an English translation (courtesy of letssingit.com)

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(Japanese)

hontou ni taisetsu na mono igai subete sugete
shimaetara ii no ni ne
genjitsu wa tada zankoku de

sonna toki itsu datte
me o tojireba
waratteru kimi ga iru

itsuka eien no nemuri ni tsuku hi made
dou ka sono egao ga
taema naku aru you ni

hito wa minna kanashii kara
wasurete yuku ikimono dakedo

aisubeki mono no tame
ai o kureru mono no tame dekiru koto

deatta ano koro wa
subete ga bukiyou de
toomawari shita yo ne
kizutsuke atta yo ne

itsuka eien no nemuri ni tsuku hi made
dou ka sono egao ga
taema naku aru you ni

deatta ano koro wa
subete ga bukiyou de
toomawari shita yo ne
tadoritsuitan da ne

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(English)

It would be nice if we could put away and throw out
everything except what really mattered, but
reality is just cruel.

In such times,
I see you laughing
whenever I close my eyes.

Until the day I reach eternal sleep,
that smiling face will
have to stay with me without fail.

People are all sad, so
they go and forget, but--

For that which I should love,
For that which gives me love, I will do what I can.

Back then, when we met,
it was all awkward.
We went the long way, didn't we?
We got hurt, didn't we?

Until the day I reach eternal sleep,
that smiling face will
have to stay with me without fail.

Back then, when we met,
it was all awkward.
We went the long way, didn't we?
We got there in the end.