Upon my very self
Dew now seems to fall and rest—
Could it be, I wonder,
Drops from the oar of the boat
That crosses the Milky Way?
- Meaning
-
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.
- Commentary
-
59. Weary of Living
A certain man, perhaps dissatisfied with life in the capital, went to search for a house in the eastern hills (the hilly region east of the Kamo River). Living there in the mountain village, he was struck by a severe illness and fell into a state as if dead. Then water touched his face and he revived.
The poem was composed by the man when he regained his breath.
This poem is recorded in the "Kokin Wakashū" (Miscellaneous, Upper) as a poem by an unknown poet.
From the poem in the same episode, "Having grown weary of living, now at last I shall seek a dwelling in the mountain village where I may hide myself," the man is likely portrayed as Ariwara no Narihira. Though Narihira was a nobleman of high birth, known as a man of refined taste and love affairs, this depiction of a world-weary and almost neurotic temperament may reflect another side he may truly have possessed.
- Source
-
Ise Monogatari
- Other
-
-
Had I but heard that you,
In hardship, gathered fallen ears,
In weary distress,
I too upon the rice field
Would have gone to join you there.
-
Having grown weary of living,
Now at last, I shall seek
A dwelling in the mountain village
Where I may hide myself,
For this, I fear, is my final time.
-
When I breathe the scent
Of tachibana flowers that wait
For the Fifth Month’s time,
It is the fragrance that clings
To the sleeves of one long past.
-
Should one cross the stream
Called the River of Dyeing,
How could it be so
That no color would cling fast
To the person passing through?