霜氷こころもとけぬ冬の池に
夜更けてぞ鳴く鴛の一声
夜更けてぞ鳴く鴛の一声
- Roma-ji
-
Shimogōri kokoro mo tokenu fuyu no ike ni yo fukete zo naku oshi no hitokoe
- English Translation
-
Frost and ice: the pond
of winter, to its very heart
frozen, never thawed,
and deep in the night there cries
the mandarin duck, one call
- Meaning
- On the winter pond frozen to its heart with frost and ice, late in the night a mandarin duck cries out once; so my heart, too, does not thaw, and I weep alone.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 1059
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of two poems on a heart that will not thaw, sung through winter ice. On a winter pond frozen to its center, the single cry of a mandarin duck late at night is laid over the loneliness of one whose heart cannot thaw. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Fujiwara no Motozane," was a poet of the mid-Heian period, counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals. His personal collection is the Motozane Shū.
The first line, "shimogōri," means frost and ice, showing the cold of winter.
In the second line, "kokoro" pivots between the center of the pond and the human heart, and "toke" pivots between ice thawing and a heart softening.
The third line, "fuyu no ike ni," means "on the winter pond," with an extra syllable at six.
In the fourth line, the emphatic "zo" is resolved by "naku."
The last line, "oshi no hitokoe," ends on a noun. Mandarin ducks were thought of as devoted pairs, and the single cry of one alone shows the loneliness of longing for an unyielding beloved. Taking up "kokoro tokezu" from Kanesuke's preceding poem as "kokoro mo tokenu," it widens the scene from a frozen sleeve to a frozen pond. The next poem is also by Motozane and sings of a river of tears.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Motozane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Fuyu no yo no namida ni kōru waga sode no kokoro tokezu mo miyuru kimi kana
- Next Poem
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Namidagawa mi mo uku bakari nagaruredo kienu wa hito no omoi narikeri