待たれつる入相の鐘の音すなり
明日もやあらば聞かむとすらむ
明日もやあらば聞かむとすらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Mataretsuru iriai no kane no oto su nari asu mo ya araba kikamu to su ramu
- English Translation
-
The vesper bell
I have been waiting for
sounds out now, it seems;
if I am still here tomorrow,
will I wait to hear it then?
- Meaning
- The evening bell I was waiting for seems to be sounding; if I am still alive tomorrow, will I be waiting to hear it again?
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1808
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third of the poems on dusk. The evening bell he awaited is sounding; if he is alive tomorrow, will he wait to hear it again? In the bell that marks the day's end he feels the impermanence of one who cannot know if he will live to tomorrow.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the Northern Quarters but took vows while young. He traveled the provinces composing poems, and his personal collection is the Sankashū.
The first line, "mataretsuru," means "that I had been waiting for." "Re" is spontaneous. It is the bell that signals the hour of evening devotions.
The second line, "iriai no kane no," is the same phrase as the fourth line of the preceding poem, the evening bell.
In the third line, "oto su nari," "nari" is an auxiliary of inference from sound, "it seems to sound," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "asu mo ya araba," means "if I am alive tomorrow too." "Ya" is a particle of question.
The last line, "kikamu to su ramu," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the attributive form of the present conjectural "ramu." It entrusts to the hearing of the bell his sense that tomorrow's life is uncertain.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kurenumeri ikuka o kakute suginuramu iriai no kane no tsukuzuku to shite
- Next Poem
-
Akatsuki to tsuge no makura o sobadatete kiku mo kanashiki kane no oto kana