尽きもせぬ光の間にもまぎれなで
老いてかへれるかみのつれなさ
老いてかへれるかみのつれなさ
- Roma-ji
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Tsuki mo senu hikari no ma ni mo magirenade oite kaereru kami no tsurenasa
- English Translation
-
Never lost within
your light that knows no ending,
not hidden from sight,
it has come back to old me—
how unfeeling is this ornament.
- Meaning
- Not lost even in the light of your endless glory, the hair ornament has come back to me in my old age; how unfeeling it is.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1713
Headnote: "Reply."
This is the third of the poems exchanged with gifts of garments and ornaments on the occasion of taking vows, a reply to the preceding poem. Not lost or hidden in the light of endless glory, the hair ornament has come back to her in her old age, and she laments its coldness. In the return of the ornament she once gave, she entrusts her regret at the other's leaving the world.
The author, "Reizei-in Grand Empress Dowager," is Princess Masako. A daughter of Emperor Suzaku, she became empress to Emperor Reizei and later Grand Empress Dowager.
The first line, "tsuki mo senu," means "never ending," praising the other's lasting glory.
The second line, "hikari no ma ni mo," means "even within that light of glory." It takes up the gleam of the "jewel" in the preceding poem and suggests the radiance of an empress.
In the third line, "magirenade," "nade" expresses negation, meaning "without being lost." It refers to the ornament, which did not vanish amid that light.
The fourth line, "oite kaereru," means "has come back to me in my old age." It answers the preceding poem's "uchikaeshi" with "kaereru." "Ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri."
In the last line, "kami no tsurenasa," "kami" is the hair ornament, answering "sono kami no" in the first line of the preceding poem. Ending on a noun, it laments the coldness of the returned ornament and shows her regret at the other's taking vows.
- Author
- Princess Masako
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sono kami no tama no kazura o uchikaeshi ima wa koromo no ura o tanomamu
- Next Poem
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Kawaru ramu koromo no iro o omoiyaru namida ya ura no tama ni magawamu