Liebe auf Distanz [English translation]

Each time we're a little bit like strangers

As if we still don't truly know each other

In your city I'm a tourist that's never really at home

Yet all that is still better than being apart1

The weeks in-between are much too long

On the telephone, it only drives us crazy2

I don't know your everyday life

And if you never talk about it

It lingers like your things in my cupboard3

I sit for hours in the train and feel4 with every breath

I hate our love at a distance

You're always there but never quite5

The separation drives me insane6

And where you were, I don't ask

I hate our love at a distance

I've been standing on the platform for an hour

My hands have frozen around my coffee7

Friends have asked after (me)

I've cancelled (everything) for today

I wonder if they'll hold it against me8

And on Sundays I sit next to you

And I know for certain we will see this through9, we're gonna make it10

And on Mondays I wake up again

And think it over too much, because I'm not sure

1. 'alles' typically means 'everything', but I thought 'anything' worked best here2. literally "it only makes us sick"3. I assume this means that just like her clothes in his closet are a reminder of her and her physical distance, the fact that he doesn't even know the simple things in her life is a reminder of her personal distance and the toll their separation has taken on their relationship. Happy to be corrected and sorry for the long sentence!4. 'spüren' generally has a deeper connotation than just 'feel'5. literally "I always have you briefly but never completely" as in either "I see you only in short bursts" (probably referring to the times where he travels to see her) or "I can always contact you (ie over text) but you're never really here." I tend to lean to the second option because of the word 'immer' (always). Again, happy to be corrected!6. literally "makes me insane"7. 'die Hände' and 'Kaffee' here belong to him; I've also translated 'eingeeist' as if it were "ein vereist" as I couldn't find a translation for 'eingeeist'. 'Vereisen' means "to freeze over"8. literally "I ask myself if that will cause us to fall out", here 'us' refers to him and his friends9. literally "and know exactly"10. or "we've already made it"