萩が花散るらむ小野の露霜に
濡れてをゆかむさ夜はふくとも
濡れてをゆかむさ夜はふくとも
- Roma-ji
-
Hagi ga hana chiruramu ono no tsuyujimo ni
nurete o yukamu sayo wa fuku tomo - English Translation
-
Though bush clover blooms
may be falling in the fields,
through dew and white frost
I will go on, drenched as I am,
even though the night grows late.
- Meaning
- Though the bush clover flowers may be falling in the fields, I will go on, wet with dew and frost, even as the night deepens.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
A similar poem appears in the Man’yōshū: “In fields where autumn bush clover blooms and scatters, come to me though you be wet with evening mist, even if the night grows late.” That poem is from a woman’s voice, whereas this one is composed from a man’s perspective.
It expresses the feeling that neither cold nor the lateness of night matters when going to meet a beloved woman.
The auxiliary “ramu” in “chiru ramu” conveys conjecture, while “mu” in “yukamu” expresses intention. The repetition of the sound “mu” in both halves gives the poem a pleasing rhythm that matches its meaning.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- The dewdrops on bush clover— to thread them as shining beads I took them in hand, but they vanished all away;— if one would see, see them there.
- If one were to break and take it, surely it would fall away at once— on autumn bush clover boughs white dew lies, bending the stems.
- On autumn fields lie drops of white dew—are they gems? threaded one by one upon the slender strands spun of a spider’s woven thread.
- Drawn by but the name, I only plucked you, maiden-flower— speak not, I implore, tell no one that I have fallen so low as to be thus ensnared.