人知れぬ寝覚めの涙降り満ちて
さもしぐれつる夜半の空かな
さもしぐれつる夜半の空かな
- Roma-ji
-
Hito shirenu nezame no namida furimichite samo shiguretsuru yowa no sora kana
- English Translation
-
Unknown to others,
the tears I shed when I wake
have poured down in full;
so that is why it showered,
the sky in the dead of night
- Meaning
- The tears I shed on waking, unknown to anyone, rained down until they filled the sky; so that is why the midnight sky was showering so.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1355
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on things of the night sky. The showers of the midnight sky, the speaker says, came from the tears secretly shed on waking, raining down until they filled it. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Lord Kentoku," is Fujiwara no Koretada. The eldest son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Morosuke, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. Kentoku-kō is the posthumous name given after his death.
The first line, "hito shirenu," means "unknown to others," showing that this is a secret love.
The second line, "nezame no namida," refers to tears shed on suddenly waking in the night.
The third line, "furimichite," means "raining down until they filled." Likening tears to rain, it is a grand exaggeration that spreads them across the sky.
In the fourth line, "samo shiguretsuru," "samo" means "in that way." The cause of the showers is found in the speaker's own tears.
The last line, "yowa no sora kana," closes with the exclamatory "kana." Following the lightning of the night sky in the preceding poem, it places showers in the same night sky. The "shigure tsutsu" of 1351 also echoes here.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Koretada
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Inazuma wa terasanu yoi mo nakarikeri izura honoka ni mieshi kagerou
- Next Poem
-
Namida nomi ukiizuru ama no tsurizao no nagaki yosugara koitsutsu zo nuru