夜の間にも消ゆべきものを露霜の
いかに忍べと頼めおくらん
いかに忍べと頼めおくらん
- Roma-ji
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Yo no ma ni mo kiyubeki mono o tsuyushimo no ikani shinobe to tanome okuran
- English Translation
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Within a single night
it is bound to melt away,
this dew and frost of mine;
how am I to bear it, then,
that you still bid me to trust?
- Meaning
- I am like dew and frost, sure to vanish within a single night. How, then, am I to endure, when you still leave me trusting in what is to come?
- Commentary
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Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1341
Headnote: "Composed when poems on ten love topics were written at my house."
This is the sixth poem of the dew sequence. The speaker, bound to vanish within a single night like dew and frost, resents the beloved for leaving a promise to be trusted, asking how one is to endure. According to the headnote, it was written when poems on ten love topics were composed at the author's house.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Toshitada," is Fujiwara no Toshitada. He was a son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Tadaie and the father of Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The first line, "yo no ma ni mo," means "even within one night."
In the second line, "kiyubeki mono o," "mono o" is concessive: "though it is bound to vanish."
The third line, "tsuyushimo no," refers to dew and frost, or dew turning to frost. It likens the speaker to something that vanishes easily. As 1337 moved from autumn dew to the withering wind, the word "tsuyushimo" marks the deepening of the season.
The fourth line, "ikani shinobe to," means "saying: how should I endure."
In the last line, "tanome okuran," "oku" is an associated word, playing on the dew and frost that "settle." "Ran" is a present conjecture, questioning why the beloved keeps the speaker trusting.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Toshitada
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Toe kashi na obana ga moto no omoigusa shioruru nobe no tsuyu wa ikani to
- Next Poem
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Ada nari to omoishi kadomo kimi yori wa mono wasure senu sode no uwatsuyu