反而  With Love to the End/And Yet

Words and Music by Ashin

 
I want to be persistent, and yet I idle away
The more expectant I am, (and yet) the more opportunities I miss
I find success, and yet I fall from virtue
The more I’m comforted, (and yet) the more I’m tormented

Loneliness, too much loneliness,
And yet I’m surrounded by the noise of a crowd
Freedom, too much freedom,
And yet I’d rather be a caged animal

And you, aren’t you looking through me, looking through my affected coldness
And you, aren’t you afraid of me, and yet you take away a part of my tenderness

I see clearly, and yet it’s indistinctly
The more I understand, (and yet) the more terrified I become
I protect my silence, and yet it’s easily broken
The more I tolerate, (and yet) the more tempestuous I am

Freedom, too much freedom,
And yet I’d rather be a caged animal

Notes: The official English title of this song is "With Love to the End."  This is not a translation of the Chinese title, 反而.  There are a few possibilites for 反而, but after trying them all, I settled on "and yet" as the best fit.  I place the words "any yet" in parentheses in some lines to demonstrate that the repeated phrase is there in the original Chinese, but it is not actuallly needed (or, for that matter, desired) in the English syntax.