夏引の手引きの糸の年経ても
絶えぬ思ひに結ぼほれつつ
絶えぬ思ひに結ぼほれつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Natsubiki no tebiki no ito no toshi hete mo taenu omoi ni musubōre tsutsu
- English Translation
-
Like the thread of summer
drawn out by hand, through the years
it has never snapped:
in a love that does not break
my heart is tangled and knotted.
- Meaning
- Like thread spun by hand in summer, my love has never broken through all the years, and my heart stays tangled and knotted in it.
- Commentary
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Book Twelve Love Poems II 1140
Headnote: "On 'Long-Lasting Love.'"
This is the first of three poems on a love that lasts through the years and on prayer. Like thread spun by hand in summer, a love unbroken through the years leaves the heart tangled and knotted. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Long-Lasting Love."
The author, "Echizen," is a lady-in-waiting's name, and there is no settled view of whom it refers to.
The first line, "natsubiki no," refers to spinning thread in summer, or thread so spun.
The second line, "tebiki no ito no," means "of thread drawn out by hand," and the lines up to here form a preface leading to "tae" and "musubōre" in the fourth and last lines.
The third line, "toshi hete mo," means "even through the years," showing the "long-lasting" of the topic.
The fourth line, "taenu omoi ni," means "in a love that does not break," using "tae," to snap, an associated word of thread.
The last line, "musubōre tsutsu," means "my heart is knotted and does not clear," using "musubōru," to tangle, another associated word of thread. Ending on "tsutsu," it leaves a lingering sense of a long love's gloom. Like the long rope in poem 1096 of this book, thread and rope drawn out long carry a love that never ends.
- Author
- Echizen
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Sode no ue ni tare yue tsuki wa yadoru zo to yoso ni nashite mo hito no toe kashi
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Ikuyo ware nami ni shiorete kibunegawa sode ni tama chiru mono omouran