秋の夜の月に心を慰めて
憂き世に年の積もりぬるかな
憂き世に年の積もりぬるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no yo no tsuki ni kokoro o nagusamete ukiyo ni toshi no tsumorinuru kana
- English Translation
-
Consoling my heart
with the moon of autumn nights,
year upon year
in this sorrowful world
has piled up on me, alas.
- Meaning
- Consoling my heart with the moon on autumn nights, I have let the years pile up in this sorrowful world.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1538
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence reflecting on oneself through the moon. Consoling his heart with the moon on autumn nights, the poet has let the years pile up in this sorrowful world. The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Fujiwara no Michitsune," was a poet of the late Heian period.
The first line, "aki no yo no," refers to autumn nights. It shows the season when the moon is most beautiful.
The second line, "tsuki ni kokoro o," means "the heart, by the moon."
The third line, "nagusamete," means "consoling," presenting the moon as a support for living in a sorrowful world.
The fourth line, "ukiyo ni toshi no," means "the years, in the sorrowful world."
The last line, "tsumorinuru kana," adds the exclamatory "kana" to the perfective "nuru." Whereas the two preceding poems sang of the moon moving in a single night, here he thinks of the moon over many autumns, lamenting the accumulation of years.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Michitsune
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Nagame shite suginishi kata o omou ma ni mine yori mine ni tsuki wa utsurinu
- Next Poem
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Aki o hete tsuki o nagamuru mi to nareri isoji no yami o nani nagekuran