Wakarete no nochi mo aimimu to omoedomo kore o izure no toki to ka wa shiru

English Translation

Though I think that we
will meet again in days to come,
after we have parted,
when that time is going to be—
who is there that ever knows?

Meaning

Though I tell myself that we will meet again after we part, who can ever know when that time will come?

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 870

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence thinking on the time of reunion. The speaker means to meet again after parting, yet cannot know when that will be. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author was a son of Ōe no Otondo and compiled the Kudai Waka, poems on lines of Chinese verse, at the command of Emperor Uda.
The scene is a parting from someone, and the place is not recorded.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "wakarete no," means "of having parted," modifying "nochi," "after," that follows.
The second line, "nochi mo aimimu to," is hypermetric with eight syllables. It expresses the hope of meeting again after parting.
The third line, "omoedomo," means "though I think," turning by concession toward undoing that hope.
The fourth line, "kore o izure no," means "that, at which," with "kore" referring to the reunion.
The last line, "toki to ka wa shiru," means "who knows at what time—no one can," a rhetorical question formed by the particle "ka wa" closing in the attributive "shiru." Where the preceding poem asks "itsu ka aimimu," "when shall we meet," this poem shows that the time cannot be known, so the two stand side by side like question and answer.

Author

Oe no Chisato

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other