暮れぬめりいくかをかくて過ぎぬらむ
入相の鐘のつくづくとして
入相の鐘のつくづくとして
- Roma-ji
-
Kurenumeri ikuka o kakute suginuramu iriai no kane no tsukuzuku to shite
- English Translation
-
Dusk has come, it seems;
how many days have I passed
in this way, I wonder,
as the vesper bell tolls on
and I brood the long hours through?
- Meaning
- It seems the day has ended; how many days have I spent like this, I wonder, hearing the evening bell toll as I brood?
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1807
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of the poems on dusk and the second of two by Izumi Shikibu. It seems dusk has come; how many days has she spent like this, listening pensively to the evening bell? With the sound of the evening bell she looks back on days that pass without change.
The author, "Izumi Shikibu," was the daughter of Ōe no Masamune. She took her name from her marriage to Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi. Known for her love affairs with Prince Tametaka and Prince Atsumichi, she later served Jōtōmon-in Shōshi. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem.
The first line, "kurenumeri," means "it seems to have grown dark." "Meri" is an auxiliary of inference, and the poem pauses here.
The second line, "ikuka o kakute," means "how many days, in this way."
The third line, "suginuramu," means "have I passed?" "Ramu" is an auxiliary of present conjecture, and here too the poem pauses.
The fourth line, "iriai no kane no," is the bell struck at temples at dusk. The next poem also sings of "the evening bell."
In the last line, "tsukuzuku to shite," "tsuku" is a pivot word meaning both striking the bell and "pensively, deeply." Drawn by the sound of the bell, it closes with deep thought on the days gone by.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yūgure wa kumo no keshiki o miru kara ni nagameji to omou kokoro koso tsuke
- Next Poem
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Mataretsuru iriai no kane no oto su nari asu mo ya araba kikamu to su ramu