檻の中の＊＊ || **, Inside a Cage

檻の中の＊＊
Ori no Naka no **
**, Inside a Cage

Vocals: めらみぽっぷ (Meramipop)
Lyrics: RD-Sounds
Arranged by: RD-Sounds
Album: 東方オトハナビ (Touhou Sound Fireworks)
Circle: 凋叶棕 (Diao ye zong)
Published by: COOL&CREATE
Release date: 14 August 2021
Original theme: Cinderella Cage ~ Kagome-Kagome [シンデレラケージ ～ Kagome-Kagome]

Requested by: Doremon Bitter

It’s interesting to think about what the ** in the title could be repaced with. The song gives us four options, which give the song four completely different moods.

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Unofficial translation/非公式の英訳

In a cage swaying to and fro’
lies the imprisoned world, a revolving world.

Circle you, circle you. Inside the cage
lie the beautiful dreams of all kinds of worlds.

This cage swaying to and fro’
is your prison, ** cradle.¹

Circle you, circle you. Inside your cage
your dreams are deep, and you will never wake.

The dreams become the cage.
Within, the bird softly sings
and someday in the cage, as far as the eye can see
the shadows of those who sing will flood forth.

The birdsong will stay ringing in my ears
for ever and ever. Their voice remains beautiful.

We shall dream of an imperishable night
for that purpose, so that no shadows may be seen.

Softly, I whisper
my one desire.
Who stands behind? With **?²

The last one
softly whispers.
A single person remains in the cage, rotting away.

** is fated to be born,³
to be rocked in this cradle
and to someday be corrupted.

And yet even now, inside the cage, the door remains closed
after so much time has passed.

Birdsong shall rest in my heart
for ever and ever, with its beautiful resonance.

Will you dream of an imperishable night
and hold nothing but memories in your mind?

I stroked the bird with my fingers
and if its voice will echo forever in this cage

then its significance will shift from the cradle
before the end, before the cradle is called the grave.

Yet your voice
will resound strongly
even outside the cage

so leave behind this impure world of **⁴
and take to the heavens, please, without looking back.

1. 我ら (warera, our) is sung in place of **. ↩︎
2. だぁれ (daare, whom) is sung in place of **. ↩︎
3. それ (sore, they/that) is sung in place of **. ↩︎
4. 死体 (shitai, corpses) is sung in place of **. ↩︎