How I long for her—
all through this same night last year
we talked and made vows,
and now she comes back to me
whether I will it or not
- Meaning
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How I long for the one with whom, all through this same night last year, I talked and exchanged vows—she comes back to me now whether I will it or not.
- Commentary
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Volume Eight: The Skein of Thread
This is the second of the three poems on the moon of the thirteenth night, composed by Tsunemori after Tadanori.
Tsunemori was Kiyomori's brother and the father of Tsunemasa and Atsumori. In Volume Seven, looking back at the capital, he had written of a burnt-out field behind and a sea road like smoke ahead. There he composed on what lay before and behind; here he composes on a night a year gone.
Where Tadanori wrote of a friend, Tsunemori writes of one with whom he exchanged vows. Chigiri is a promise, and also the bond between lovers. Out of the same night, the first poem takes friendship and the second love.
Yomosugara is all night long. Last year's thirteenth night was one they talked through until morning. That concreteness is set against this year's night alone. The moon is the same; the person beside him is not.
The rare in omoiideraretecarries the sense of something happening of itself: he does not set out to remember, the memory comes. There is no resisting it. Tadanori's poem guessed at what the other person might be feeling; Tsunemori states what is happening to him. Set together, one poem reaches out and the other is overtaken.
Tsunemori's sons Tsunemasa and Atsumori are both killed at Ichi-no-tani the following spring. While the father in Kyushu remembers a night a year ago, his sons have less than half a year to live.
koishi to yo……how I long for it.
kozo no koyoi……this same night a year ago.
yomosugara……all night through.
chigirishi hito……the one with whom vows were exchanged.
omoiiderarete……remembered of itself, without willing it.
Tsunemori……Taira no Tsunemori, brother of Kiyomori, father of Tsunemasa and Atsumori.
jihatsu……the grammatical form expressing something that happens spontaneously.
Ichi-no-tani……the place in Settsu where his sons were killed.
- Source
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Heike Monogatari
- Other
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