君来んと言ひし夜ごとに過ぎぬれば
頼まぬものの恋ひつつぞ経る
頼まぬものの恋ひつつぞ経る
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi kon to iishi yogoto ni suginureba tanomanu mono no koitsutsu zo furu
- English Translation
-
"I'll come to you," you said,
yet every night you said it
has passed by in vain;
though I no longer trust you,
I live on, loving still
- Meaning
- Every night you said, "I will come," has passed without you; so though I no longer rely on your word, I go on loving you as the days go by.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1207
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the eleventh poem of the sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. Every night the lover said he would come has passed without him, so she no longer relies on his word, yet she goes on loving him as the days pass. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author is given as "Anonymous," meaning that the name has not come down to us.
The poem appears in section 23 of The Tales of Ise as that of the woman of Takayasu, whose lover had stopped visiting her.
The first line, "kimi kon to," means "'I will come,' you said." Like "ima kon to" in 1203 of this book, it quotes the lover's words of promise.
The second line, "iishi yogoto ni," means "every night you said so," showing the promise was made not once but many times.
The third line, "suginureba," means "since they have passed," the promised nights passing emptily without his coming.
The fourth line, "tanomanu mono no," means "though I no longer rely on it." "Mono no" is a concessive conjunctive particle. Where the preceding poems waited relying on a promise, this one says it no longer relies on promises.
The last line, "koitsutsu zo furu," means "I go on loving as the days pass," the emphatic "zo" forming a kakari-musubi with the attributive "furu." It closes on the contradiction that longing does not fade though she no longer trusts him, and waiting shifts from a matter of one night to a matter of days.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kaerusa no mono to ya hito no nagamuran matsu yo nagara no ariake no tsuki
- Next Poem
-
Koromode ni yamaoroshi fukite samuki yo o kimi kimasazu wa hitori ka mo nen