秋の夜の千夜を一夜になずらへて
八千夜し寝ばやあく時のあらむ
八千夜し寝ばやあく時のあらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni nazuraete
yachiyo shi neba ya aku toki no aramu - English Translation
-
If autumn nights—
a thousand of them—
be counted as one,
and we should lie through eight thousand nights,
would there ever come a time of weariness?
- Meaning
- 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?
- Commentary
-
Episode Twenty-Two: "Though it is bitter"
A man and a woman, not deeply bound to one another, parted over some slight occasion.
Though they separated from their uncertain bond, they were fortunate to confirm each other’s feelings and to restore their relationship, and this process is portrayed in candid poems.
After composing, "Now that we have met and made our hearts as one, like river water that parts around an island yet flows on without end," the man at once went to the woman. Speaking together of the days they had passed and of what lay ahead, he composed this poem.
It expresses his resolve that no matter how many long nights they might spend together, there would never come a time when he would weary of her, and reveals his deep affection for the woman.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
-
- Though it is bitter, I cannot yet forget you, for all your cruelty; and so, even in blame, still do I long for you.
- Now that we have met and made our hearts as one— like river water that parts around an island yet flows on without end.
- Though autumn nights— a thousand of them— be made into one, still would words remain, and the cock perhaps would crow.
- By the well-curb of the round well we once stood— my childish height has surely grown beyond it while I have not seen you.