ねぬる夜の夢をはかなめまどろめば
いやはかなにもなりまさるかな
いやはかなにもなりまさるかな
- Roma-ji
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Nenuru yo no yume o hakaname madoromeba
iya hakana ni mo narimasaru kana - English Translation
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Of the night we slept
The dream seems so fleeting now—
Yet when I doze on,
Half in sleep once more I feel
Its frailty grow still deeper.
- Meaning
- The dream of the night when I slept with you fades away so quickly. When I return and doze again, I fall into an even more fleeting dreamlike feeling.
- Commentary
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103. The Night We Slept
There was a certain man. He was very earnest and not at all frivolous, and he served Emperor Ninmyō. One time, perhaps through a misunderstanding, he came to speak intimately with a woman who served the imperial princes.
The poem was composed by the man and sent to the woman.
A man not accustomed to love shows an excessive depth of feeling after sharing only a single night together. That state of mind appears in the poem. At the end of the episode it is even said that the poem itself was rather awkward.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
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