秋や来る露やまがふと思ふまで
あるは涙の降るにぞありける
あるは涙の降るにぞありける
- Roma-ji
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Aki ya kuru tsuyu ya magau to omou made aru wa namida no furu ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
Is it autumn come?
Is it the dew I mistake?
So I thought, and yet
what I have is but my tears
falling down upon my sleeves.
- Meaning
- Has autumn come? Is it dew I mistake it for?—so I thought, but what wets my sleeves is only my tears falling.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1498
Headnote: "When Narihira Ason sent me robes."
This is the third and last poem of the sequence on early autumn. His sleeves are so wet that he wonders whether autumn has come or whether it is dew, the poet says, but it is only his tears falling. According to the headnote, it was composed when Ariwara no Narihira sent him robes.
The author, "Ki no Aritsune Ason," was the son of Ki no Natora. He was the father of Ariwara no Narihira's wife.
This exchange also appears in section sixteen of The Tales of Ise, where it is told as a poem of thanks when Narihira sent robes to Aritsune, who had parted from his wife in old age.
The first line, "aki ya kuru," asks with the particle "ya," "has autumn come?"
The second line, "tsuyu ya magau to," means "is it dew I mistake it for?" Like "magau tomo," the third line of 1496 in this book, it sings of dew and tears confused.
The third line, "omou made," means "so much that I thought so," showing how wet the sleeves are.
The fourth line, "aru wa namida no," means "what is there is tears." It reveals the true nature of what he took for dew.
The last line, "furu ni zo arikeru," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "zo" with the attributive form "keru." Expressing tears as "falling" like rain, it shows tears shed in gratitude for Narihira's kindness, closing the sequence on early autumn.
- Author
- Ki no Aritsune
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sode no ura no nami fukikaesu akikaze ni kumo no ue made suzushikaranan
- Next Poem
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Meguriaite mishi ya sore to mo wakanu ma ni kumogakurenishi yowa no tsukikage