あだなりと思ひしかども君よりは
もの忘れせぬ袖の上露
もの忘れせぬ袖の上露
- Roma-ji
-
Ada nari to omoishi kadomo kimi yori wa mono wasure senu sode no uwatsuyu
- English Translation
-
Fleeting, so I thought,
and yet, far more than you do,
it never forgets—
this dew that settles each night
upon the surface of my sleeves
- Meaning
- I thought it fleeting, yet the dew on my sleeves forgets far less than you do.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1342
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the seventh poem of the dew sequence. The dew on the sleeves, once thought fleeting, is said to forget less than the beloved does, a reproach to one who has forgotten to visit. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Michinobu Ason," is Fujiwara no Michinobu. He was a son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Tamemitsu and rose to Middle Captain of the Left Inner Palace Guards, but died young at twenty-three.
The first line, "ada nari to," means "fleeting, unreliable." It sets out the common notion that dew soon vanishes.
In the second line, "omoishi kadomo," "shika" is the perfective form of the past auxiliary "ki": "though I had thought so," overturning the common notion.
In the third line, "kimi yori wa," the dew is compared with the beloved. The logic is that the beloved forgets more easily than the supposedly fleeting dew.
The fourth line, "mono wasure senu," treats the tears that settle on the sleeves every night without fail as something that never forgets.
The last line, "sode no uwatsuyu," ends on a noun. Where the preceding poem lamented the fleetingness of dew and frost, this poem turns the notion of fleeting dew on its head and reproaches the fleeting heart of the beloved.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Michinobu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Yo no ma ni mo kiyubeki mono o tsuyushimo no ikani shinobe to tanome okuran
- Next Poem
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Onajiku wa waga mi mo tsuyu to kienanan kienaba tsuraki koto no ha mo miji