秋の夜の露をば露と置きながら
雁の涙や野辺を染むらむ
雁の涙や野辺を染むらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no yo no tsuyu o ba tsuyu to okinagara
kari no namida ya nobe o somuramu - English Translation
-
though autumn night dew
rests there as but dew alone—
could it instead be
the tears of passing wild geese
that stain the fields with their hue?
- Meaning
- Though the dew of the autumn night lies there as mere dew, could it be that the tears of the geese dye the fields?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed at a poetry contest at the residence of Prince Koretada.
According to a conventional idea, dew was thought to color the leaves of plants. Yet dew, being but a tiny amount, could not truly dye them. Thus, the poet imagines instead that the sorrowful tears of geese flying overhead fall and color the fields.
- Author
- Mibu no Tadamine
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- since the very day the autumn wind began to blow, on Mount Otowa even the treetops on the peak have taken on autumn hues.
- though white dew bears but a single hue—how is it that in autumn the leaves upon the trees are dyed into a thousand differing shades?
- because autumn dew settles in many differing ways, upon the hills the leaves upon the trees are turned into a thousand varied hues.
- where white dew falls and even showers pass through— upon that mountain, not a single lower leaf remains but all are turned to autumn hues.