嘆くらん心を空に見てしがな
立つ朝霧に身をやなさまし
立つ朝霧に身をやなさまし
- Roma-ji
-
Nagekuran kokoro o sora ni miteshigana tatsu asagiri ni mi o ya nasamashi
- English Translation
-
The heart you say grieves,
I would like to see it plain
from up in the sky;
shall I make myself a mist,
the morning mist that rises?
- Meaning
- I would like to look down from the sky and see the heart that you say is grieving. Shall I turn myself into the rising morning mist?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1412
Headnote: "Reply."
This is the second poem of the sequence on sky and clouds and the reply to the preceding poem. She would like to see from the sky the heart he says is grieving, and wonders whether to turn herself into rising morning mist to do so.
The author, "Consort Princess Kishi," was Kishi, a daughter of Prince Shigeakira, son of Emperor Daigo. After serving as Ise Priestess she became a consort of Emperor Murakami and was called the Priestess Consort.
The first line, "nagekuran," means "that you say is grieving." "Ran" is a conjecture close to hearsay, taking up "nagekitsuru kana," the last line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "kokoro o sora ni," takes up the "ōzora" of the preceding poem: "your heart, from the sky."
The third line, "miteshigana," means "I wish I could see," expressing a wish. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "tatsu asagiri ni," means "into the rising morning mist." Mist was thought to rise into the sky, providing the means of looking from above.
In the last line, "mi o ya nasamashi," "ya" is questioning and "mashi" expresses hesitation: "shall I make myself so?" Where the preceding poem entrusted its unease to the boundless sky, this one answers by rising into that sky as mist to see his heart, so that the exchange is built on the same image of the sky.
- Author
- Princess Kishi
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ama no hara soko to mo shiranu ōzora ni obotsukanasa o nagekitsuru kana
- Next Poem
-
Awazu shite furu korohoi no amata areba harukeki sora ni nagame o zo suru