saying “yesterday”
and living through this day as well—
like Asuka River
ever flowing swift and on
so pass the days and passing months
- Meaning
- Calling it yesterday, and passing today as today—like the Asuka River, how swiftly the days and months flow on.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems
This poem was composed at the end of the year.
Asuka River refers to the river flowing through the Asuka region of Nara. With the sequence “yesterday – today – tomorrow,” the word “tomorrow” is playfully rendered as “Asuka River,” creating a rhythmic wordplay that likens the swift passage of time to the rapid flow of a river.
- Author
- Harumichi no Toshi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- as the passing year draws each time to its close again the snow falls ever more— and so too does my own self grow older with each passing year
- when snow falls at last and the year comes to its close— only then we see the pine that never changes hue that never turns like autumn leaves
- how I regret it the year that now is passing on— in this polished mirror even the reflected self seems to fade into the dusk
- may my lord endure for a thousand, eight thousand years— until pebbles small grow into mighty boulders and moss comes thick upon them