つくづくと思へばやすき世の中を
心と嘆く我が身なりけり
心と嘆く我が身なりけり
- Roma-ji
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Tsukuzuku to omoeba yasuki yo no naka o kokoro to nageku waga mi narikeri
- English Translation
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When I think it through,
this world of ours is easy
to pass through, and yet
of my own heart I grieve—
such a one, I find, am I.
- Meaning
- When I think it through, the world is easy enough to live in; it is I who, of my own heart, make myself grieve.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1774
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the tenth and last of the poems on a heart that loathes the world yet cannot cast it off. On reflection the world is easy enough, yet he creates his own grief from within. Realizing that the world's pain lies not in the world but in his own heart, he closes by looking back on the laments of the preceding poems.
The author, "Arakida no Naganobu," was a member of the Arakida family, who served the Ise Shrine.
The first line, "tsukuzuku to," means "thoroughly, deeply."
The second line, "omoeba yasuki," means "easy, when I think of it." "Ba" after the realis form marks a condition.
The third line, "yo no naka o," means "this world that is so easy." "O" runs on with a concessive sense.
In the fourth line, "kokoro to nageku," "kokoro to" means "of my own heart, by my own doing," showing that the cause of grief lies in the heart, not the world.
In the last line, "waga mi narikeri," "keri" expresses realization. Where the preceding poems lamented the world's pain, he comes to see that it is his own heart that makes grief, closing the group.
- Author
- Arakida no Naganobu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Saritomo to tanomu kokoro no yukusue mo omoeba shiranu yo ni makasu ramu
- Next Poem
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Kawabune no noboriwazurau tsunadenawa kurushikute nomi yo o wataru kana