今よりは逢はじとすれや白妙の
わが衣手の乾く時なき
わが衣手の乾く時なき
- Roma-ji
-
Ima yori wa awaji to sure ya shirotae no waga koromode no kawaku toki naki
- English Translation
-
From now on, perhaps,
you mean to meet me no more—
is that why my sleeves
of white mulberry cloth
never know a time when dry?
- Meaning
- Is it because you mean never to meet me again that the sleeves of my white robe are never dry?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1428
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on sleeves and robes. Perhaps because the beloved means never to meet again, the speaker's sleeves are never dry of tears. 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, "ima yori wa," means "from now on."
In the second line, "awaji to sure ya," "ji" is a negative volition, and "sure ya," the perfective form with "ya," guesses at a cause: "is it because?" The poem breaks after the second line.
The third line, "shirotae no," is a pillow word for "koromode" (sleeve), the same word as the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "waga koromode no," means "my sleeves." It takes up the "sleeves" of the preceding poem.
The last line, "kawaku toki naki," answers "ya" with an attributive ending. It is the same phrase as the last line of 1375: there the sleeves did not dry for no known reason, while here the other's resolve not to meet is guessed to be the cause.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga yowai otoroe yukeba shirotae no sode no narenishi kimi o shi zo omou
- Next Poem
-
Tamakushige akemaku oshiki atarayo o koromode karete hitori ka mo nen