かくばかり憂きを忍びて長らへば
これよりまさる物もこそ思へ
これよりまさる物もこそ思へ
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku bakari uki o shinobite nagaraeba kore yori masaru mono mo koso omoe
- English Translation
-
Should I bear such grief
as this and still live on,
patient in my pain,
I fear I shall come to know
sorrows greater even than this.
- Meaning
- If I bear such sorrow as this and live on, I fear I shall come to suffer something even worse.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1811
Headnote: "When I had resolved to become a nun and someone stopped me."
This is the first of the poems on the bonds between those close to one another. If she endures such sorrow and lives on, she fears she will suffer something greater still. According to the headnote, it was composed when someone stopped her after she had resolved to become a nun; to the one who holds her back, she pleads the pain of remaining in the world.
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.
The first line, "kaku bakari," means "to such a degree."
The second line, "uki o shinobite," means "enduring sorrow."
The third line, "nagaraeba," means "if I live on," the irrealis with "ba" forming a supposition.
The fourth line, "kore yori masaru," means "greater than this."
In the last line, "mono mo koso omoe," "mo koso" expresses apprehension, "it would be dreadful if," closing in kakari-musubi with the realis "omoe." She pleads with the one who stops her that remaining in the world will bring still greater pain.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Akatsuki no yūtsukedori zo aware naru nagaki nemuri o omou makura ni
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Tarachine no isameshi mono o tsurezure to nagamuru o dani tou hito mo nashi