Koiwabu to kiki ni dani kike kane no oto ni uchiwasuraruru toki no ma zo naki

English Translation

"I pine for you"—
this at least, hear it, hear:
in the temple bell's toll,
not for the space of a moment
can I forget you, ever.

Meaning

That I pine for you in sorrow—this at least, listen and hear it; in the sound of this bell I tell you there is not even a moment in which I can forget you.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 816

Headnote: "Composed when, after Koshikibu no Naishi died, I gave the toiletry box she always kept with her as an offering for sutra chanting."
This is the first poem of the sequence remembering the dead through things and places they left behind. It asks the dead to hear, at least in the sound of the bell, that the poet pines for her and cannot forget her even for a moment. According to the headnote, after her daughter Koshikibu no Naishi died, she composed the poem when giving the toiletry box her daughter always kept with her as an offering for sutra chanting at a temple.
A daughter of Ōe no Masamune, the author became the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, and later served Jōtōmon'in. "Koshikibu no Naishi" was the daughter of the author and Tachibana no Michisada; she served Jōtōmon'in alongside her mother but died young in Manju 2 (1025).
The scene is the time after Koshikibu no Naishi's death, set at the temple where the sutras were chanted.
The direct occasion is giving her daughter's toiletry box, a keepsake, as an offering for sutra chanting.
Sutra chanting was the practice of having monks recite sutras to pray for the repose of the dead, and objects were given as offerings for it.

In the first line, "koiwabu to," "koiwabu" means to pine with longing and sorrow. It speaks of the grief of thinking of her late daughter.
In the second line, "kiki ni dani kike," "dani" means "at least," and "kike" is a command addressed to her late daughter. Repeating the word, it calls out strongly, "at least, listen and hear it." The poem pauses after the second line.
The third line, "kane no oto ni," means "in the sound of the bell" of the sutra chanting. It is hypermetric, with six syllables, and entrusts her feelings for her daughter to the bell of the service for which the box was offered.
In the fourth line, "uchiwasuraruru," "uchi" is a prefix adding the sense "for a moment," and "ruru" expresses possibility, meaning "can forget even briefly."
In the last line, "toki no ma zo naki," "zo" is an emphatic binding particle, completed by the attributive "naki." It says that she cannot forget her daughter even for a moment. It shows a grief that cannot forget even after the keepsake, the toiletry box, is given up for a Buddhist service. From the next poem, 817, poems remembering the dead through letters they left behind follow.

Author

Izumi Shikibu

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other