ながめても哀れと思へおほかたの
空だに悲し秋の夕暮れ
空だに悲し秋の夕暮れ
- Roma-ji
-
Nagamete mo aware to omoe ōkata no sora dani kanashi aki no yūgure
- English Translation
-
Seeing me gazing,
feel for me at least some pity:
even common skies
are enough to bring us grief
on an autumn evening.
- Meaning
- When you see me gazing, lost in thought, at least feel some pity for me; on an autumn evening even an ordinary sky is enough to grieve us.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1318
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of the sequence of love's grief sung through autumn imagery. Pity me when you see me gazing, the speaker says, for on an autumn evening even an ordinary sky is sad. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Kamo no Chōmei," was a son of Kamo no Nagatsugu, a priest of the Shimogamo Shrine; he became a member of the Bureau of Poetry, later took holy orders, and wrote An Account of My Hut. He studied poetry under Shun'e.
The first line, "nagamete mo," means "even seeing me gaze, lost in thought."
The second line, "aware to omoe," is an imperative, "feel pity for me," and the poem breaks after it. It is an appeal to a cold lover.
The third line, "ōkata no," means "ordinary, common to all." It is the same word as "ōkata no tsuyu" in Ariie's poem, 1314, and shares its way of naming an ordinary thing to suggest a weightier one.
In the fourth line, "sora dani kanashi," "dani" means "even." If even an ordinary sky is sad, how much more the sky gazed at by one sunk in love, it implies.
The last line, "aki no yūgure," ends on a noun. Here begins the sequence sung through autumn imagery, and Jien's poem, 1322, closes with the same last line.
- Author
- Kamo no Chomei
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Omoiiru fukaki kokoro no tayori made mishi wa sore tomo naki yamaji kana
- Next Poem
-
Koto no ha no utsurishi aki mo suginureba wagami shigure to furu namida kana