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- Ise Monogatari
Amagumo no yoso ni nomi shite furu koto wa
waga iru yama no kaze hayami nari
Like clouds in the sky, kept only at a distance all this while—it is the wind upon the mountain where you dwell that blows so fiercely.
Kimi ga tame taoreru eda wa haru nagara
kaku koso aki no momiji shinikere
For you, I have broken this branch—though it is spring, it has thus taken on the crimson leaves of autumn, like my own feelings.
Idete inaba kokoro karushi to ii ya semu
yo no arisama o hito wa shiraneba
If I go forth and leave, they may say that my heart is light; for people do not know the way of this world between us.
Omou kai naki yo narikeri toshitsuki o
ada ni chigirite ware ya sumashitsu
Was it in vain that through the passing years in this fleeting world we pledged ourselves so lightly—and thus have I lived?
Hito wa isa omoi ya suramu tamakazura
omokage ni nomi itodo mietsutsu
She may be gone, yet does she think of me?—like a jeweled vine, her image alone appears ever more vividly before my eyes.
Ima wa tote wasururu kusa no tane o dani
hito no kokoro ni makasezu mogana
Now that it is so and our bond is ended, one may say to forget and sow the seeds of the grass of forgetting; yet would that even this were not left to your heart’s will.
Wasuregusa uu to dani kiku mono naraba
omoikeri to wa shiri mo shinamashi
If only I were to hear that you had planted the grass of forgetting, I would at least know that you had been thinking of me.
Wasururamu to omou kokoro no utagai ni
arishi yori ke ni mono zo kanashiki
That doubting heart which thinks I would forget you—because of that very doubt, my sorrow is even deeper than before.
Nakazora ni tachiiru kumo no ato mo naku
mi no hakanaku mo narinikeru kana
Like clouds that rise and stand in mid-air, leaving no trace, so has my fleeting self come utterly to nothing.
Uki nagara hito o ba e shi mo wasureneba
katsu uramitsutsu nao zo koishiki
Though I find you cruel and bitter, I cannot forget you; thus, even as I reproach you, I still long for you.
Aimite wa kokoro hitotsu o Kawashima no
mizu no nagarete taeji to zo omou
Now that we have met and made our hearts as one, like river water that parts around an island yet flows on without end, so I would have our bond endure.
Aki no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni nazuraete
yachiyo shi neba ya aku toki no aramu
If a thousand autumn nights were counted as one, and we were to lie together through eight thousand nights, would there ever come a time when we should tire of one another?
Aki no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni naseri tomo
kotoba nokorite tori ya nakinamu
Even if a thousand autumn nights were made into one, still our words would remain unfinished, and the cock would crow at dawn.
Tsutsuitsu no izutsu ni kakemashi maro ga take
suginikerashi na imo mizaru ma ni
By the well-curb of the round well where we once stood, my childish height has surely grown beyond it while I have not seen you.
Kurabekoshi furiwakegami mo kata suginu
kimi narazu shite tare ka agubeki
The parted hair we once compared has now grown past my shoulders; if not you, who else could perform the hair-raising for me?
Kaze fukeba oki tsu shiranami Tatsutayama
yowa ni ya kimi ga hitori koyuramu
When the wind blows and white waves rise offshore, so fearful is Tatsuta Mountain; are you crossing it alone in the middle of the night?