← The eight songs03 / 08 · Learned distance

Chapter 03

Across the Street

Thirty steps separate their doors. The bedroom light still comes on, but the way towards it has become difficult to imagine.

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From the first verse · 08:26

Overhead view of an empty street at night between two buildings with lit windows. — Thirty steps they both know how to count. View full image ↗

THE LYRICS

Original lyrics and translation

Read the English original, the Spanish translation, or both texts stanza by stanza.

Verse 1Your bedroom light still comes on lateThe same as years agoI see your shadow cross the wallFrom my side of the road

Verse 1La luz de tu cuarto aún se enciende de nocheIgual que hace añosVeo tu sombra cruzar la paredDesde mi lado de la calle

Your curtains moveYour window breathesA life I used to know

Tus cortinas se muevenTu ventana respiraUna vida que conocía

Thirty steps between our doorsAnd nowhere left to go

Treinta pasos entre nuestras puertasY no encuentro la forma de acercarme

Pre-ChorusWe used to crossWithout a thought

Pre-ChorusAntes cruzábamosSin pensarlo

Now every stepMeans something else

Ahora cada pasoSignifica otra cosa

ChorusYou're across the streetBut miles away

ChorusEstás al otro lado de la calleY, aun así, te siento tan lejos

I know your faceI cannot say your name

Reconozco tu rostroPero no puedo pronunciar tu nombre

Nothing between usBut painted lines

Nada entre nosotrosSalvo líneas pintadas

A little roadAnd different sides

Una calle nada másY bandos distintos

You're across the street

Estás al otro lado de la calle

How did you getSo far from me?

¿Cómo has llegado a estarTan lejos de mí?

Verse 2I saw you waiting in the rainBeside the corner store

Verse 2Te vi esperando bajo la lluviaJunto a la tienda de la esquina

For half a second you looked upLike you had done before

Durante medio segundo levantaste la vistaComo hacías antes

I almost raised my hand to youYou almost raised yours too

Casi alcé la mano para saludarteTú también estuviste a punto

Then someone passed between our eyes

Entonces alguien se interpuso entre nuestras miradas

And we rememberedWhat we're supposed to do

Y recordamosCómo nos han enseñado a comportarnos

Pre-ChorusNo one spokeNo one had to

Pre-ChorusNadie hablóNadie tuvo que hacerlo

We both knewThe rules by now

Los dos conocíamosLas reglas de sobra

ChorusYou're across the streetBut miles away

ChorusEstás al otro lado de la calleY, aun así, te siento tan lejos

I know your faceI cannot say your name

Reconozco tu rostroPero no puedo pronunciar tu nombre

Nothing between usBut painted lines

Nada entre nosotrosSalvo líneas pintadas

A little roadAnd different sides

Una calle nada másY bandos distintos

You're across the street

Estás al otro lado de la calle

How did you getSo far from me?

¿Cómo has llegado a estarTan lejos de mí?

BridgeWhat would happenIf I crossed tonight?

Bridge¿Qué pasaríaSi cruzara esta noche?

Would you close the door?

¿Cerrarías la puerta?

Would I lose my side?

¿Me darían la espalda los míos?

Would the whole world changeIf I stood beneath your light

¿Cambiaría el mundo enteroSi me quedara bajo tu luz

And said your nameThe way I used to?

Y dijera tu nombreComo solía hacerlo?

BreakdownThirty steps

BreakdownTreinta pasos

That's all

Eso es todo

Thirty steps

Treinta pasos

And everything we've learnedBetween them

Y todo lo que aprendimosQue ahora nos impide darlos

Final ChorusYou're across the streetStill miles away

Final ChorusEstás al otro lado de la calleY todavía te siento tan lejos

But I know your face

Pero conozco tu cara

And I remember your name

Y recuerdo tu nombre

Nothing between usThat wasn't made

Nada nos separaQue no hayamos levantado

A little road

Una calle nada más

A line we obeyed

Una línea que aprendimos a obedecer

You're across the street

Estás al otro lado de la calle

Maybe that's notSo far from me

Quizá no estésTan lejos de mí

OutroYour bedroom lightIs still on

OutroLa luz de tu cuartoSigue encendida

Mine too.

La mía también.

Notes on the translation

“Te siento tan lejos” preserves the contrast between emotional distance and the thirty steps between the houses.

“¿Me darían la espalda los míos?” conveys the fear of losing the support of one’s own group.

The translation accompanies the original lyrics, preserves their stanzas and is not adapted for singing.

Thirty steps

Editorial reading

The lyrics begin by looking at a window. A life the narrator once knew continues beyond it: a shadow crossing the room, a curtain, a light at its usual hour. Physical closeness makes the distance more painful. He can see that the other is still there; he no longer knows how to reach them.

Outside the shop, both are about to raise a hand. Someone passing between their eyes is enough to remind them of what is expected. The greeting stops before it happens. The scene shows how thoroughly they have learned the rules: they can obey without anyone saying a word.

Crossing the street risks two kinds of rejection: the other person might close the door, or his own people might consider it disloyal. The narrator imagines the step without taking it. Two lights remain on. Remembering the other person’s name makes the journey imaginable again.

The cost of coming closer

The lost bond exists within a relationship with other people. That gives the gesture of approaching an audience, even when no one appears in the street. The narrator fears losing his place among his own if he takes up a place in the other person’s life again.

The song remains in that tension. Thirty steps is an exact distance; everything that might happen in crossing it remains unanswered.

THE QUESTION THAT REMAINS

What is at stake in crossing that street?

After the song

No door has opened yet. The two lights show that the other life continues, thirty steps away.

Listen to this song Complete album

From the first verse · 08:26

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