つひにゆく道とはかねてききしかど
昨日今日とは思はざりしを
昨日今日とは思はざりしを
- Roma-ji
-
Tsui ni yuku michi to wa kanete kikishikado
kinō kyō to wa omowazarishi o - English Translation
-
The road we must go
at last, so I had heard—
yet I did not think
it would be yesterday
or today that it would come.
- Meaning
- I had long heard that death is the road we must all go in the end, yet I never thought it would come as soon as yesterday or today.
- Commentary
-
125
A certain man, having fallen ill and sensing that death was near, composed this poem.
Until one becomes aware of it in oneself, death is thought of as something distant; yet once it comes, life proves fleeting. The poem may be taken as a direct expression of such lament.
This poem is also included in the Kokinshū among the elegies, attributed to Ariwara no Narihira. It is said that Narihira died in 880 at the age of fifty-six.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Prev Poem
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Omou koto iwade zo tada ni yaminubeki
ware to hitoshiki hito shi nakereba