秋風にあへず散りぬるもみぢ葉の
ゆくへ定めぬ我ぞかなしき
ゆくへ定めぬ我ぞかなしき
- Roma-ji
-
Akikaze ni aezu chirinuru momijiba no
yukue sadamenu ware zo kanashiki - English Translation
-
unable to withstand
the autumn wind, they scatter—
maple leaves that fall;
like them, with no fixed course,
my own path fills me with grief
- Meaning
- Like the maple leaves that cannot withstand the autumn wind and scatter, I too, with no certain course ahead, am filled with sorrow.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
A poem that likens the transience of one’s own life to the scattering maple leaves.
It expresses a sense of being at a loss, as if the poet’s future were uncertain, much like the drifting leaves, suggesting that some event has left the poet’s life unsettled.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- on Tatsuta River maple leaves drift with the flow— in the sacred hills of Mimuro, high among the gods, showers must be falling now
- when longing comes to me, I shall gaze and think on them— maple leaves of red; do not scatter them away, O wind that blows down the hills
- autumn has now come; fallen leaves lie thick at my door— maples strewn below; yet no one comes, parting them, treading through to visit me
- parting them with my steps, shall I go yet further on, to pay a visit— though I see the path ahead hidden by the falling leaves