背けどもあめのしたをし離れねば
いづくにもふる涙なりけり
いづくにもふる涙なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Somukedomo ame no shita o shi hanareneba izuku ni mo furu namida narikeri
- English Translation
-
Though I turn away,
I cannot leave the rain-swept
land under heaven,
and so wherever I may be
my tears fall down like rain.
- Meaning
- Though I have turned from the world, I cannot leave the land beneath heaven, and so wherever I am my tears fall like rain as I pass my days.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1744
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of the poems on turning from the world. Though one turns from the world, one cannot leave the land under heaven, and so tears fall like rain wherever one is. The grief that even taking vows brings no escape from the world's sorrows is entrusted to rain and tears.
The author is given as "Anonymous," and the name has not come down.
The first line, "somukedomo," means "though I turn away." Taking up "somukaneba" of the preceding poem, it speaks of the self after renunciation.
In the second line, "ame no shita o shi," "ame" is a pivot word meaning both "heaven" and "rain." "Shi" is an emphatic particle.
The third line, "hanareneba," means "since I cannot leave." As long as one lives in this world, one cannot go beyond the land under heaven.
In the fourth line, "izuku ni mo furu," "furu" is a pivot word meaning both rain or tears "falling" and "passing" one's days in the world.
In the last line, "namida narikeri," "keri" expresses realization. It closes as the speaker comes to see that tears fall wherever one flees. The next poem also uses the phrase "ame no shita."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ushi to iite yo o hitaburu ni somukaneba mono omoishiranu mi to ya narinamu
- Next Poem
-
Ōzora ni teru hi no iro o isametemo ame no shita ni wa tare ka sumubeki