誰行きて君に告げまし道芝の
露もろともに消えなましかば
露もろともに消えなましかば
- Roma-ji
-
Tare yukite kimi ni tsugemashi michishiba no tsuyu morotomo ni kienamashikaba
- English Translation
-
Who would have gone forth
to bring the news to you, had I
with the roadside grass
and the dew upon its blades
faded, vanished all away
- Meaning
- Had I vanished away together with the dew on the roadside grass, who would have gone to tell you of it?
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1187
Headnote: "Sent after he had gone to a woman's house but, feeling unwell, returned home."
This is the eleventh poem of the sequence on the feelings of the morning after. Had he vanished together with the dew on the roadside grass, who would have gone to tell her? According to the headnote, he went to a woman's house but, feeling unwell, returned and sent this poem.
The author, "Kamo no Narisuke," lived in the mid-Heian period and served as a priest of the Kamo Shrine.
The first line, "tare yukite," means "who would go."
The second line, "kimi ni tsugemashi," means "would have told you." "Mashi" is the auxiliary of counterfactual supposition, answering "mashikaba" in the last line, with a pause after the second line.
The third line, "michishiba no," means "of the roadside grass," an image of the way home.
The fourth line, "tsuyu morotomo ni," means "together with the dew." As dew on roadside grass fleetingly vanishes, he imagines himself vanishing too.
The last line, "kienamashikaba," means "had I vanished." "Mashikaba" and "mashi" in the second line answer each other to form a counterfactual, with the upper and lower verses inverted. The next poem also ends with "the dew on the roadside grass," so the two poems are placed side by side sharing the same words.
- Author
- Kamo no Narisuke
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Mata mo kon aki o tanomu no kari dani mo nakite zo kaeru haru no akebono
- Next Poem
-
Kiekaeri aru ka naki ka no waga mi kana uramite kaeru michishiba no tsuyu