わが齢衰へゆけば白妙の
袖の馴れにし君をしぞ思ふ
袖の馴れにし君をしぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
-
Waga yowai otoroe yukeba shirotae no sode no narenishi kimi o shi zo omou
- English Translation
-
As my years advance
and I grow feeble with age,
like white mulberry
sleeves grown soft with wear, it is you,
so long familiar, I think of
- Meaning
- As I grow old and frail, it is you I think of, as familiar to me as the sleeves of a white robe grown soft with long wear.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1427
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of the sequence on sleeves and robes. Growing old, the speaker thinks of the beloved, grown familiar over the years as sleeves soften with wear. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," indicates a poet whose name has not come down.
The first line, "waga yowai," means "my years."
The second line, "otoroe yukeba," means "as they decline." Taking up the laments over one's lot in the preceding group, it looks at an aging self.
The third line, "shirotae no," is a pillow word for "sleeve." It is the same word as the first line of the opening poem, so that near the end of the book white sleeves are sung again.
The fourth line, "sode no narenishi," means "grown familiar, as sleeves soften with wear." Sleeves growing soft and people growing close are overlaid.
In the last line, "kimi o shi zo omou," "shi" is an intensifier, and it closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "omou." Where the opening poem sang of the parting of sleeves, this one sings of sleeves long familiar, placing parting and intimacy at the beginning and end of the book.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Hito naraba omou kokoro o iitemashi yoshi ya sa koso wa shizu no odamaki
- Next Poem
-
Ima yori wa awaji to sure ya shirotae no waga koromode no kawaku toki naki