Kokoro ni wa wasururu toki mo nakarikeri miyo no mukashi no kumo no ue no tsuki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

心には忘るる時もなかりけり
三代の昔の雲の上の月

Roma-ji: Kokoro ni wa wasururu toki mo nakarikeri miyo no mukashi no kumo no ue no tsuki
English Translation: Within my heart there
never was a time at all
that I forgot it—
the moon above the clouds, in days
long past, through three reigns of old.
Meaning: In my heart there was never a moment I forgot it—the moon above the palace clouds in the days I served three reigns.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1511

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on recalling the past, when I composed a hundred-poem sequence around the Bunji era."
This is the third poem of the sequence recalling the past through the moon. The poet says that in his heart there was never a moment he forgot the palace moon of the days when he served three reigns. According to the headnote, it was composed as a poem on recalling the past in a hundred-poem sequence written around the Bunji era.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Left Kinhira," was the son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kin'yoshi. He became Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards but died young.

The first line, "kokoro ni wa," implies "within my heart, though I did not show it."
The second line, "wasururu toki mo," means "not a time of forgetting." It corresponds to "wasureji yo," the first line of 1509 in this book, in taking forgetting as its theme.
The third line, "nakarikeri," declares with "keri," the exclamation of realization, "there never was." The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "miyo no mukashi no," refers to the days of serving three sovereigns. It shows the length of his service and the distance of the time now past.
The last line, "kumo no ue no tsuki," ends on a noun. "Above the clouds" means the palace, and like "kumoi no tsuki" in the two preceding poems it sings of the palace moon. In inverted order, it places at the end what he never forgot.
Author: Fujiwara no Kinhira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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