煙立つおもひならねど人知れず
わびてはふしのねをのみぞ泣く
わびてはふしのねをのみぞ泣く
- Roma-ji
-
Keburi tatsu omoi naranedo hito shirezu wabite wa fushi no ne o nomi zo naku
- English Translation
-
Though my love's no fire
sending up a plume of smoke,
unknown to anyone,
in my grief I lie, like Fuji's
peak, and only weep aloud
- Meaning
- My longing is no fire that sends up smoke like Fuji, yet unknown to anyone, worn down by grief, I lie prostrate and do nothing but weep aloud.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1009
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the smoke of love. The speaker's longing is no fire that sends up smoke like Fuji, yet in secret grief he lies prostrate and weeps aloud. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Fukayabu," was the grandfather of Kiyohara no Motosuke and great-grandfather of Sei Shōnagon. He was also known as a master of the koto.
The first line, "keburi tatsu," means "sending up smoke," like Mount Fuji.
In the second line, "omoi" pivots between longing and "hi," fire. It opens by denying: mine is no fire that sends up smoke.
The third line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to anyone," a love that does not show.
In the fourth line, "wabu" means to be troubled in heart, and "fushi" pivots between Fuji and "fushi," lying down.
In the last line, "ne" pivots between "ne," peak, and "ne," the sound of weeping. The emphatic "zo" is resolved by "naku." Where Tsurayuki's preceding poem would burn like Mount Fuji, this one denies any smoke yet weeps by Fuji's peak, treating the same mountain from another direction.
- Author
- Kiyohara no Fukayabu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Shirushi naki keburi o kumo ni magaetsutsu yo o hete Fuji no yama to moenan
- Next Poem
-
Kaze fukeba Muro no Yashima no yūkeburi kokoro no sora ni tachinikeru kana