我ばかりつらきを忍ぶ人やあると
今世にあらば思ひあはせよ
今世にあらば思ひあはせよ
- Roma-ji
-
Ware bakari tsuraki o shinobu hito ya aru to ima yo ni araba omoiawaseyo
- English Translation
-
Is there anyone
who endures a heart so cold
as I, all alone?
if you live in this world now,
think it over and compare
- Meaning
- Is there anyone else who endures a lover's coldness as I do? If you are alive in this world now, think it over and compare.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1222
Headnote: "On the topic of one-sided love."
This is the third poem of the sequence on resenting a cold-hearted lover and enduring the pain. Is there anyone who endures a lover's coldness as he does? If you are alive in this world now, think it over and compare. According to the headnote, it was composed on the set topic of one-sided love.
The author, "Lay Priest and Former Regent and Chancellor," is Kujō Kanezane. A son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served in turn as Regent, Chancellor, and Grand Minister and founded the Kujō house. He left the diary Gyokuyō.
The first line, "ware bakari," means "as much as I," showing a stance of comparing one's own pain with others'.
The second line, "tsuraki o shinobu," means "enduring the lover's coldness."
The third line, "hito ya aru to," means "whether there is anyone," and has six syllables, one more than the norm.
The fourth line, "ima yo ni araba," means "if you are in this world now." It sets the range of comparison, implying "look across the whole wide world."
The last line, "omoiawaseyo," means "think it over and compare." Addressing the beloved in the imperative, it pleads that no one endures pain as he does. Following the preceding poem's wish that the beloved might suffer too, this one confronts the beloved with the depth of his endurance.
- Author
- Kujō Kanezane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ikabakari ureshikaramashi morotomo ni koiraruru mi mo kurushikariseba
- Next Poem
-
Tada tanome tatoeba hito no itsuwari o kasanete koso wa mata mo uramime