暁の霜うち払ひ鳴く千鳥
もの思ふ人の心をや知る
もの思ふ人の心をや知る
- Roma-ji
-
Akatsuki no shimo uchiharai naku chidori
mono omou hito no kokoro o ya shiru - English Translation
-
The plover that shakes
the frost of daybreak from its
wings and cries aloud—
does it know, then, what is in
the heart of one who is grieving
- Meaning
- The plover that shakes the frost of daybreak from its wings and cries—does it know what is in the heart of one who grieves?
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Agemaki
Naka no Kimi's reply. She asks whether the plover cries because it knows what is in their hearts, and lets her gratitude to Kaoru show through the question. Her anxiety over her sister's illness is conveyed in the quiet form of an unanswerable question.
To shake off the frost gives the bird concretely, in the cold. "One who is grieving" is the two sisters. Ya shiru is a question, and by putting it to a bird she makes plain that there is no one else to put it to. Taking over his plover exactly, the reply is direct and finely judged.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Shimo sayuru migiwa no chidori uchiwabite
naku ne kanashiki asaborake kana - Next Poem
-
Kakikumori hikage mo mienu okuyama ni
kokoro o kurasu koro ni mo aru kana