Immortal Samsara - Opening Song (片頭曲 - 沉香如屑) 【ENGLISH COVER】

Ariel Tian (@Ariel Tian Music 雲坊 ) does fabulous covers of Mandarin TV themes and other songs. Ariel was looking for an English lyricist, so I had a go at an English lyrical version of this song from the 'Immortal Samsara' TV show:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Samsara

The challenge with translating for song, is that the direct translation from Mandarin is usually more than two phrases in English for each Mandarin line, so to keep within the melody requires some compression.

Ariel's cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRQfGMVImwE

The official version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2gImtY8rcM&ab_channel=KKMusicOfficial

Original lyrics are by 段思思 (Duan Sisi)
Music is by 谭旋 (Tan Xuan)

My lyrics:
Tales lonely from immortal lands.
Tell love is far from our human hands.
What will be when your life is shown.
The path to heaven’s unknown.
Fate is fickle and will bring you tears.
Sorrow of parting fills my dreams with fears
No regrets though I must die a thousand years.

Though I suffer in a thousand ways,
For the living I’ll fight all my days,
My heart is pure untouched by the soil,
I fear no death amidst my toil,
Helpless against the heaven’s rule,
I seek to change my fate like a fool,
My years pass like a flower’s bloom,
The autumn leaves, tell of my doom.

The moons shines down on my mortal life,
I seek The Way amidst human strife,
When faced with choosing between right and wrong
My will to fight for good is strong,
Fate relieves me with a glass of wine,
To ease the bitterness and trials of time,
With my sword I don’t miss the life the divine.

Chorus

Mortals would laugh if they heard my tale,
For love and friends I used to stive and fail,
From man and demon I can tell what’s true,
My humble heart will see me through,
Heaven’s hand it will not rescind,
To mortal fate am and now destined,
My blood and bones turn to dust, tossed by the wind

Final Chorus end:
(The years past by with each mortal test
My wandering heart will never rest)

#沉香如屑 #immortalsamsara