[Intro] At the vermilion torii, though the cold wind cries, My fading breath drifts softly through the night. My life spills out beneath the crimson sky— For you, Lady Uka, keeper of my heart. [Verse 1] The sacred majesty you left behind Still burns within me, though my voice grows weak. When every breath becomes a fragile thread, Your memory is the reason that I breathe. With trembling hands, I gathered paper forms, White little familiars beneath the moon. I shaped their wings and offered them to you— But nothing mortal ever reached your room, Where you sit beyond the silver clouds, Beyond the reach of prayer and sound. [Verse 2] One day, the flame inside me will burn out. My body drags like iron through the rain. And on these darkened roads, I cannot see— Yet knowing you are there keeps me awake. A single thought, a whisper of your name, Moves through my chest when all else disappears. Though every light is swallowed by the night, Your distant presence teaches me to breathe. [Chorus] This body, quietly consumed, Grows pale and weightless in the gloom. The cries of flesh that once were loud Have faded underneath the clouds. The breathlessness that fills my lungs, The final hours, the thread undone— Am I destined, when the night comes near, To vanish from this world without a trace? [Bridge] The rice fields gleam like rivers made of gold, While my brief years fall softly, leaf by leaf. A weariness no prayer can drive away, The footsteps of Yomi drawing near. But still, my longing deepens in the dark. Still, I lift my trembling voice to you. Though all I am is breaking into dust, My prayer remains— My prayer remains true. [Chorus 2] I exist for you and you alone, Carving out my life to sing this song. Let this fragile trace of love remain When every other name is gone. May it endure beyond the turning years, Beyond the silence, beyond mortal tears. If I must fade beneath eternity— Let this be my prayer, Let this be all of me. [Outro] Not as proof that I once lived, Nor as a mark the world could ever see— But as proof that I loved you deeply, Lady Uka— And no one else but thee.
