- Top
- -
- Shika Wakashu
Mutose ni zo kimi wa kimasamu sumiyoshi no matsubeki mi koso itaku oinure
Only after six years will you come home again, and I, who must wait for you like the pines of Sumiyoshi, have grown terribly old.
Shika Wakashu - Tsumori no Kunimoto
Akanesasu hi ni mukaitemo omoiideyo miyako wa harenu nagame suramu to
Even when you turn toward the bright, glowing sun, remember me: think that in the capital I must be sunk in brooding, my heart as clouded as the endless rains.
Wakareji no kusaba o wakemu tabigoromo tatsu yori kanete nururu sode kana
This traveling robe, which will brush through the dewy grasses along the road of parting, has sleeves already wet with tears from the moment it was cut, before the journey has even begun.
Mata komu to tare ni mo e koso iiokane kokoro ni kanau inochi naraneba
I cannot bring myself to promise anyone that I will come back again, for life is not something that goes as one's heart would wish.
Todomaramu todomaraji tomo omooezu izuku mo tsui no sumika naraneba
I find in myself no wish either to stay or not to stay, for there is no place anywhere that is truly one's final dwelling.
Futatsu naki kokoro o kimi ni todomeokite ware sae ware ni wakarenuru kana
Because I have left my one and only heart behind with you, it is not only from you that I part: I have parted even from myself.
Kureba mazu sonata o nomi zo nagamubeki idemu hi goto ni omoiokoseyo
When evening falls, before anything else I will gaze only toward where you are; and you, each time the sun rises, send your thoughts back to me.
Azumaji no harukeki michi o yukimeguri itsuka tokubeki shitahimo no seki
Wandering the far roads of the East, when will I at last pass the Barrier of Shitahimo and untie the under-sash we knotted when we parted?
Shika Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tachiwakare haruka ni iki no matsu nareba koishikarubeki chiyo no kage kana
You part from me and go far off to the pines of Iki, and I will be left to wait; how I shall long for you, like the shade of a pine that endures a thousand ages.
Shika Wakashu - Yoen
Hakanaku mo kesa no wakare no oshiki kana itsuka wa hito o nagaraete mishi
Fleeting as it is, how I grieve over this morning's parting. When have I ever seen anyone go on living for long?
Ayashiku mo waga miyamaki no moyuru kana omoi wa hito ni tsukete shi mono o
How strange that the deep-mountain tree of my own body is the one burning, when it was in another's heart that I meant to kindle the fire of love.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Ikade ka wa omoi ari to mo shirasu beki Muro no Yashima no keburi nara de wa
How could I ever let you know of the fire of longing within me, unless it rose like the smoke that drifts above Muro no Yashima?
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Kaku to dani iwade hakanaku koishinaba yagate shirarenu mi to ya narinamu
If I die of love in vain without ever saying even "this is how I feel," will I simply pass away, unknown to the one I love?
Omoikane kyō tatesomuru nishikigi no chitsuka mo matade au yoshi mo gana
Unable to bear my longing, today I set up the first painted wand of nishikigi at your gate; if only there were a way to meet you before a thousand of them stand there.
Shika Wakashu - Oe no Masafusa
Tanigawa no iwama o wakete yuku mizu no oto ni nomi ya wa kikamu to omoishi
Like the sound of the valley stream that makes its way between the rocks, did I ever think I would know you only by rumor? Never.
Shika Wakashu - Taira no Kanemori
Yo to tomo ni koitsutsu suguru toshitsuki wa kawaredo kawaru kokochi koso sene
The years and months I pass in endless longing come and go, yet it never feels as if anything has changed.