逢ふと見てことぞともなく明けぬなり
はかなの夢の忘れ形見や
はかなの夢の忘れ形見や
- Roma-ji
-
Au to mite koto zo tomo naku akenu nari hakana no yume no wasuregatami ya
- English Translation
-
Dreaming that we met,
with nothing come of it at all
the night has turned to dawn;
this, from a dream so fleeting,
is the keepsake left to me
- Meaning
- I dreamed that we met, and the night seems to have dawned with nothing come of it; this dawn is all the keepsake left by that fleeting dream.
- Commentary
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Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1387
Headnote: "Composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented to the court."
This is the eighth poem of the dream sequence. The speaker dreamed of meeting, and the night dawned with nothing come of it; that very dawn is the keepsake of a fleeting dream. According to the headnote, it was composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented to the court.
The author, "Ietaka Ason," is Fujiwara no Ietaka. A son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Mitsutaka, he studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei and became one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.
The first line, "au to mite," means "dreaming that we met."
The second line, "koto zo tomo naku," means "with nothing come of it." It refers to time passing with nothing happening in reality, the meeting only a dream.
In the third line, "akenu nari," "nari" is inferential: "the night seems to have dawned." The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "hakana no yume no," means "of a fleeting dream." "Hakana," the stem of an adjective, carries exclamation. It takes up "hakanaki yume" of the preceding poem.
In the last line, "wasuregatami ya," "ya" is exclamatory. The keepsake the dream leaves behind is found in the dawn itself. Where the preceding poem wept at the trace of a dream, this one sees the dawn after the dream as its keepsake.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Ietaka
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Namidagawa mi mo ukinubeki nezame kana hakanaki yume no nagori bakari ni
- Next Poem
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Toko chikashi anakama yowa no kirigirisu yume ni mo hito no mie mo koso sure