秋の夜の千夜を一夜になせりとも
ことば残りてとりや鳴きなむ
ことば残りてとりや鳴きなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no yo no chiyo o hitoyo ni naseri tomo
kotoba nokorite tori ya nakinamu - English Translation
-
Though autumn nights—
a thousand of them—
be made into one,
still would words remain,
and the cock perhaps would crow.
- Meaning
- Even if a thousand autumn nights were made into one, still our words would remain unfinished, and the cock would crow at dawn.
- 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.
This poem is the woman’s reply to the man’s poem, "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?"
To his question of whether there would come a time when he would tire of her, she answers that no matter how many long nights they might spend together, it would never be enough, and dawn would come while their words were still unfinished.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
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- Now that we have met and made our hearts as one— like river water that parts around an island yet flows on without end.
- 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?
- 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.
- The parted hair we once compared in length has passed my shoulders— if not you, then who shall raise it up for me?