BTS’s ‘Spring Day’: No Darkness, No Season Can Last Forever

Comfort while waiting for winter to turn to spring

When I first arrived in Korea a month ago, there were no blooms or leaves on any of the trees. Rather than trees bursting with colors of greens and tinges of orange like when I left Seoul in October, only skeletons of trees greeted me when I first started walking the streets of Seoul again.

Seeing their barrenness felt haunting, but I didn’t have to wait long. Before I even had time to realize it was happening, the trees were full on blooming, with cherry blossoms filling the spaces of roadways and cafes, heralding a new spring and bidding farewell to the cold of winter.

The lonely and empty trees that I saw outside my window were bursting with life.

Now, in what feels like a blink, these blooms have all fallen, making way for the vibrant green leaves that have been eager to find their way to the light of the sun. As I’ve seen the rapid pace of the trees coming from their winter slumber to blooming full of life again, I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of the song “Spring Day” (“봄날”) by BTS and dwelling on the message this song presents to the world about holding on to hope, even in the deepest, darkest winter.

The song is sung (almost) entirely in Korean, so those who may not understand Korean or who don’t take the time to look up the song’s translation miss out on such a beautiful and poignant message. And this message so beautifully and poetically sums up what I’ve learned from the trees outside my window these past few weeks.

No darkness and no season can possibly last forever.

The song, which released in 2017 as part of BTS’s album “You Never Walk Alone,” is left open to interpretation, as none of the members have publicly said what the song truly represents (though RM [Kim Namjoon] and Suga [Min Yoongi], two of the main writers, have given insight into their inspiration). After reading the lyrics over and over and feeling the weight of the song as sung by the members, it could easily be referencing the separation of loved ones, whether through time, distance, life, or even death.

Even through the pain of this separation, which is compared to a winter, there is a flicker of hope that those who are desperately missing each other will reunite again once the flowers bloom and spring has returned.

The opening is nostalgic and full of longing as leader and rapper RM starts the song.

(Lyrics are translated from Korean; italicized lyrics are sung in English)

I miss you

Saying this makes me miss you even more

I miss you

Even though I’m looking at your photo

Time’s so cruel, I hate us

Seeing each other is now more difficult

It’s all winter here, even in August

Through these lines, it is obvious that he is desperately wanting to be near someone who, for one reason or another, is not there. Though he has photos and memories to keep close to his heart during this season, time isn’t ticking any faster. In the last line, we see that the winter he is referring to isn’t even physical winter, but a time of loneliness and pain that makes him feel as “dead” and empty as the trees do when they’ve lost their leaves.

My heart is running on time, alone on the Snowpiercer

I want to go to the other side of the earth, holding your hand

To put an end to this winter

How much should my longings fall like snow

Before the days of spring return, friend?

He goes further, asking when he will be able to do the one thing he longs to do, which is hold the hand of the person he is separated from. He shares his longing, acknowledging that this winter he is experiencing will come to an end once he’s with that beloved person again.

The Snowpiercer reference points to the train in the movie “Snowpiercer.” In this movie, the train embarks on a long and isolated journey through a frozen wasteland, and this reference most likely symbolizes grief, isolation, and loneliness. Similarly, Jungkook can be seen riding a train, seemingly with no end in sight, during the course of the song’s music video.

I love how these desperate and heartfelt longings are compared to snow and the day of reunion as spring. It is such a beautiful picture I think we can all relate to in some way. It’s a picture of the struggle of where we are and where we want to be, or who we want to be with.

Though we may long for their presence with all our heart, this longing doesn’t make time move any faster. As RM said in a letter to Army from the military in March (translated), “Even if you hang the Ministry of Defense’s clock upside down, it’ll go on. Hanging it backwards and turning it and even rotating it 540 degrees, it keeps going.”

There have also been parallels drawn from the timing and lyrics of the song to the 2014 Sewol Ferry tragedy which took place off the coast of Korea and just marked its 11th anniversary. This tragic ferry sinking claimed the lives of 304 people, 250 of which were high school students on a school trip. Imagery from the music video, including clothes discarded into a pile and yellow ribbons (used to honor the victims following the crash) can be seen throughout the music video.

Like the tiny dust floating, like the tiny dust

Floating in the air

If I were the snow flying through the sky

I could reach you a little faster

Snowflakes fall down

And fall apart little by little

I miss you

I miss you

How long do I have to wait?

And how many sleepless nights must I go through

Before I see you?

Before I meet you?

He even envies the weightlessness and careless to and fro flight of the snowflakes that accompany this season. Right now, his existence feels like such a heavy burden to bear, and he wishes for a type of weightlessness to transport himself faster through time and distance.

No matter how much we wish for time to go by faster, it cannot be sped along. And even as the clock ticks by slowly, we see that no matter what, life goes on. We may question how long we’ll have to wait for our spring day to come, but even in the waiting, life goes on.

If I’ve learned anything from this waiting period that I’m in, there can still be joy and beautiful things and even glimpses of spring in the midst of what can be seen as “winter.” There are still amazing things to be taught and learned and experienced, and all of these things are just molding me into the person I’m meant to be when that spring season comes along.

And, of course, winter and spring will undoubtedly look different for everyone. For me, someone who has always dreamed of finding love, this waiting period of searching for love could be seen as that winter. Though I love this season for what it is and am so grateful for the beautiful snowflakes that have fallen into my life during this time, I still do eagerly await for the spring when I finally meet the person God has for me.

Now, for the members of BTS, I know this song has to have an extra special meaning now, as their spring day, their discharge, is just around the corner. Just a little over a month now, in fact.

I know RM especially has spoken of this song in his letters throughout his military period, expressing his eagerness for the day he is reunited with the other members and back doing what he loves again. This compulsory military period is their winter, their discharge, the start of spring.

Past the edge of this winter's cold

Until the spring day comes again

Until the flowers bloom again

Please stay there a little longer, stay there

Even through the pain and desperation, he is holding on to a sliver of hope that spring is coming, even if it feels like this lonely winter will never end.

Coupled with his loneliness is his fear that the person (or people) he is longing for will no longer be there once the long journey of winter finally ends. While one may survive the winter, there is no guarantee both will make it to the other side unscathed.

He urges that person to stay strong and wait, saying that it will only be “a little longer” before they can hold each other again, with winter becoming just a distant and nearly forgotten memory.

Is it you who changed?

Or is it me?

I hate this moment, this time flowing by

We've both changed, you know?

Everyone does, I guess

Yes, I hate you, you left me

But I never stopped thinking about you, not even for a day

I miss you, honestly, but I'll erase you

'Cause it hurts less than to blame you.

These lines, sung by Suga and Jimin, reflect Suga’s thought process when he wrote this song. This same kind of sentiment can be found in his solo song “Dear My Friend,” from his solo album, “D-2.”

These lyrics were written as Suga processed the loss of a friend who had been very dear to him. Though we don’t know what caused this separation, it can be surmised that it could merely be the distance created by life and personal choices.

“I just resented my friend so much,” Suga said in the book Beyond the Story: The 10-Year Record of BTS. “When I was going through a hard time, that friend was the one I could lean on… When I was a trainee, we’d talk together, ‘Hey, you think I could really debut?’ And break into sobs, and then make resolutions together like, ‘Let’s conquer the whole world!’ But now I wonder how that friend is doing.”

I try to blow you away

Like smoke, like white smoke

I say that I'll erase you

Truth is, I can't let you go yet

Try as we might to forget those who we are missing or who we have had to let go of to protect ourselves or had to move on from due to nothing else but the distance created by life, letting go isn’t as easy as it may sound.

And though this song, at this point, may be leading you to think that only a heartbreaking conclusion is left, I am so happy that is not the case.

You know it all, you're my best friend

The morning will come again

No darkness, no season

Can last forever

These lines are so incredible. It’s like that hug we all need at some point, from someone who will say, “Hey, I know this time has been difficult, but you are going to be okay.” Because while it is dark now, light will soon follow. There hasn’t been a day that morning hasn’t come, a winter that hasn’t been followed by spring like clockwork. Though some winters do seem longer than others, that doesn’t mean that spring has or will ever canceled her arrival.

The cherry blossoms are blooming

Even this winter is coming to and end

I miss you

I miss you

Wait a little bit, just a few more nights (If you wait)

I'll be there to see you (I'll go there to meet you)

I'll come get you

Instead of drowning in anguish and fear over this wintery season, the perspective changes. Now, he’s starting to see the light at the end of this wintery tunnel.

The cherry blossoms are blooming, signaling new life and a new chapter opening. We don’t know how long his winter lasted, but can feel the relief in these lines that spring is almost here.

He will soon be reunited with that person his heart yearns for, and he asks them to just wait a few more days. Then, they will meet again.

In the years since I first discovered this song, it has brought so much comfort and calm into situations I wished I could change, and hope during times when it felt easy to give up.

I have no doubt this song will continue to be one that will live throughout the ages as one that will impact countless people, no matter how many years go by.

Whether you’re in a season of winter or spring, I hope you know that the snowfall will one day turn to cherry blossoms.

This is what I have learned from this song, and the trees outside my window. Like these trees, we too can burst with new life again, in the very blink of an eye.