忍ぶるに心のひまはなけれども
なほもるものは涙なりけり
なほもるものは涙なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Shinoburu ni kokoro no hima wa nakeredomo nao moru mono wa namida narikeri
- English Translation
-
Hiding it, my heart
has not the smallest gap, and yet
still it seeps away,
and what is it that leaks out?
Nothing but my tears
- Meaning
- As I hide my love, my heart has not the slightest gap, and yet what still seeps out, I find, is my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1037
Headnote: "'Hidden Love,' when he composed a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on love long kept hidden. Though the heart that hides its love has no gap at all, what still seeps out is tears. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Hidden Love" when he wrote a hundred-poem sequence.
The author, "The Lay Priest and Former Regent and Chancellor," is Kujō Kanezane. A son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served as Regent, Imperial Adviser, and Chancellor, and later took holy orders. He left the diary Gyokuyō and was the father of Kujō Yoshitsune and elder brother of Jien.
The first line, "shinoburu ni," means "since I hide my love."
In the second line, "hima" is a gap: the hiding heart has none. 1002, the poem by Takatō, likewise asked through what gap the tears leak.
The third line, "nakeredomo," is concessive: though there is no gap, and it turns to the lower verse.
The fourth line, "nao moru mono wa," means "what still leaks out," taking up "namida morasu na" from the preceding poem.
In the last line, "keri" marks realization. It shares its last line with 1003, the poem by Kentoku-kō. Where Princess Shokushi's preceding poem commands the pillow not to let the tears spill, this one answers that tears spill all the same, forbidden or not.
- Author
- Kujō Kanezane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga koi wa shiru hito mo nashi seku toko no namida morasu na tsuge no omakura
- Next Poem
-
Tsurakeredo uramin to hata omōezu nao yukusaki o tanomu kokoro ni