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- Ise Monogatari
Ashibe yori michikuru shio no iyamashi ni
kimi ni kokoro o omoimasu kana
Like the tide that comes in from the reed-grown shore and rises ever higher, so my feelings for you grow stronger and stronger.
Komorie ni omou kokoro o ikade ka wa
fune sasu sao no sashite shirubeki
Like a hidden cove overgrown and unseen, how could you so clearly know the feelings I keep deep within, as one sounds and knows the depth below with a punting pole?
Ieba e ni iwaneba mune ni sawagarete
kokoro hitotsu ni nageku koro kana
When I try to speak, I cannot; if I do not speak, my heart is disturbed within my breast, and so in my heart alone I grieve these days.
Tama no o o awao ni yorite musubereba
taete no nochi mo awamu to zo omou
The cord on which the jewels are strung is twisted of many strands and tied fast; even if it should be cut, I believe we shall surely be joined again.
Tani sebami mine made haeru tamakazura
taemu to hito ni waga omowanaku ni
Like the jeweled vine that, because the valley is narrow, climbs and reaches up to the mountain peak, I have never thought to sever my bond with you.
Ware narade shitahimo toku na asagao no
yūkage matanu hana ni wa ari tomo
Other than me, do not loosen your lower cord. Even if you are like the morning-glory that does not wait for the evening light and quickly fades away.
Futari shite musubishi himo o hitori shite
aimiru made wa tokaji to zo omou
The cord that we two together tied, I, alone, will not loosen until I see you again.
Kimi ni yori omoi narainu yo no naka no
hito wa kore o koi to iuramu
Because of you, I have come to know this feeling. In this world, do people call such a thing love, I wonder?
Narawaneba yo no hito goto ni nani o kamo
koi to wa iu to toishi ware shi mo
Having never known it, I am the one who asks people of the world just what it is they call love.
Idete inaba kagiri narubemi tomoshi kechi
toshi henuru ka to naku koe o kike
If the princess’s bier goes forth, it will be the end for her. Extinguish the torches and listen to the voices that weep, saying that her years were but a brief flame.
Ito aware naku zo kikoyuru tomoshi kechi
kiyuru mono to mo ware wa shirazu na
How moving it is to hear the weeping. Though the torches are extinguished, I do not know that what fades is truly gone.
Idete inaba tare ka wakare no katakaramu
arishi ni masaru kyō wa kanashi mo
If she were to leave of her own will, who would find the parting so hard? Yet more than ever before, today is filled with sorrow.
Murasaki no iro koki toki wa me mo haru ni
no naru kusaki zo karezarikeru
When the color of the purple root is deep and rich, the grasses and trees of the fields all appear as one, none seeming to have withered away.
Idete koshi ato dani imada kawaraji o
ta ga kayoiji to ima wa naruramu
Even the traces from when I left you have surely not yet changed, and yet, I wonder whose passing path it has now become.
Hototogisu na ga naku sato no amata areba
nao utomarenu omou mono kara
Cuckoo, since there are so many villages where you sing, though I am drawn to you, I cannot quite hold you dear.
Na nomi tatsu shide no taosa wa kesa zo naku
io amata to utomarenureba
The cuckoo, called only by name the warden of the fields of death, cries this morning, for it has been said that it has many huts and belongs to none.