塩垂るることをやくにて松島に
年ふる海人も嘆きをぞつむ
年ふる海人も嘆きをぞつむ
- Roma-ji
-
Shiotaruru koto o yaku nite Matsushima ni
toshi furu ama mo nageki o zo tsumu - English Translation
-
Making a trade of
weeping until her sleeves drip,
the fisherwoman
grown old at Matsushima
heaps her own griefs up as well
- Meaning
- Making a trade of weeping, the fisherwoman growing old at Matsushima heaps up her griefs as well.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Suma
Fujitsubo answered his poem with this one. For years she had held back any sign of feeling for fear of talk; now it seemed to her that this very restraint had protected his name, and she missed him the more. The reply was a little warmer than usual.
"Shiotaru" takes up his own word, keeping the etiquette of exchange. "Yaku" means a trade or duty and also plays on burning, tying it to the salt-burner's work. "Matsushima" likewise returns his word. "Heaping up griefs" carries an echo of heaping firewood. The coastal associations are worked through the whole poem while it states the daily grief of a life under vows, and the closeness of the technique is itself the measure of her restraint.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Korizuma no ura no mirume no yukashiki o
shio yaku ama ya ikaga omowamu - Next Poem
-
Ura ni taku ama dani tsutsumu koi nareba
kuyuru keburi yo yukukata zo naki