恋しとはさらにもいはじ下紐の
解けむを人はそれと知らなむ
解けむを人はそれと知らなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Koishi to wa sara ni mo iwaji shitahimo no
tokemu o hito wa sore to shiranamu - English Translation
-
That I long for you
Never again will I say.
When the under-cord
Comes undone, let people know
That alone will tell my love.
- Meaning
- I will no longer say that I long for you. When the cord of your under-robe comes undone, let that be how you know the feeling I hold for you.
- Commentary
-
111. One Never Yet Seen
There was a certain man. Someone in the household of a high-ranking woman had died. The man sent the woman a love poem under the pretense of mourning, but the woman replied in verse that his feelings lacked sincerity and must be false.
The poem is the man’s reply to the woman’s poem: “As a sign they say / The cord beneath should come loose / When one is loved so. / Yet my under-cord stays tied— / So you cannot love as said.”
Having at least managed to convey his feelings to the high-ranking woman, the man composes this poem to say that he will prove that his feelings are genuine.
This poem is included in the Gosen Wakashū as a poem by Ariwara no Motokata.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
-
- Long ago perhaps Such a thing may have been said— Only now I know: To love someone unseen yet, One whom I have never met.
- As a sign they say The cord beneath should come loose When one is loved so. Yet my under-cord stays tied— So you cannot love as said.
- From Suma’s shore The smoke where the fisherfolk Burn salt for their trade— The wind blows harshly upon it, Drifting where it never meant.
- Within this brief life That cannot last very long, To be forgotten— How exceedingly short Such a heart must surely be.