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- Ise Monogatari
Ayame kari kimi wa nu ni zo madoikeru
ware wa no ni idete karu zo wabishiki
While cutting iris leaves for the festival, you must have wandered in the marsh; at the same time I went out upon the plain to hunt, and how wretched it was.
Ikade ka wa tori no nakuramu hito shirezu
omou kokoro wa mada yobukaki ni
Why should the cock be crowing? Though my love is hidden from all and I thought it still the depth of night, dawn seems already near.
Yukiyaranu yumeji o tanomu tamoto ni wa
amatsusora naru tsuyu ya okuramu
Relying on a dream path that never reaches its end, I fall asleep; and upon my sleeve, soaked through when I wake, does the dew from the heavens fall?
Omowazu wa ari mo suramedo koto no ha no
orifushi goto ni tanomaruru kana
You may well live on without thinking of me at all; yet whenever I recall your words at each passing occasion, I cannot help but place my trust in them.
Waga sode wa kusa no io ni aranedomo
kurureba tsuyu no yadori narikeri
My sleeves are no hut thatched with grass, yet when evening falls they become a dwelling where the dewdrops come to rest.
Koiwabinu ama no karu mo ni yadoru chō
warekara mi o mo kudakitsuru kana
Worn down by love, like the so-called "self-from" creature that dwells in the seaweed cut by fishermen, I have shattered even my own body because of feelings that arise from myself.
Arenikeri aware ikuyo no yado nare ya
sumikemu hito no otozure mo senu
How desolate it has become—alas, for how many generations has this been a dwelling? The one who once lived here does not even come to visit.
Mugura oite aretaru yado no uretaki wa
kari ni mo oni no sudaku narikeri
What makes this desolate house, overgrown with mugwort, so unpleasant is that, even if only for a short while, demons come swarming here.
Uchiwabite ochibo hirou to kikamaseba
ware mo tazura ni yukamashi mono o
Had I heard that you had fallen into hardship and were gathering fallen ears of rice, I too would have gone out to the fields to join you.
Sumiwabinu ima wa kagiri to yamazato ni
mi o kakusubeki yado motometemu
I have grown weary of living in the capital. Now, at last, I must seek a dwelling in the mountain village where I can hide myself, for this may be my final opportunity.
Waga ue ni tsuyu zo oku naru ama no kawa to
wataru fune no kai no shizuku ka
Dew seems to fall upon me. Perhaps it is the drops from the oar of a boat that crosses the ford of the Milky Way.
Satsuki matsu hanatachibana no ka o kageba
mukashi no hito no sode no ka zo suru
When I breathe the fragrance of tachibana blossoms that bloom in the Fifth Month, it recalls the scent that once clung to the sleeves of the one I loved long ago.
Somegawa o wataramu hito no ikade ka wa
iro ni naru chō koto no nakaramu
If one were to cross the river called the River of Dyeing, how could it be possible that no color would cling to that person?
Na ni shi owaba ada ni zo arubeki Tawareshima
nami no nureginu kiru to iu nari
If it truly bears its name, then Tawared Island must indeed be a place of inconstancy. Yet they say it merely wears the waves’ wet sleeves as a robe—like a false rumor that has no real cause.
Inishie no nioi wa izura sakurabana
kokeru kara to mo narinikeru kana
Where has the beauty and charm of long ago gone? Like cherry blossoms that have scattered and fallen into the moss, it has become a pitiful sight.
Kore ya kono ware ni ōmi o nogaretsutsu
toshitsuki furedo masarigao naki
Is this truly the one who turned away from being my wife and passed the years since then, yet showing no sign of having fared any better?