限りなく思ふ涙にそほちぬる
袖は乾かじ逢はむ日までに
袖は乾かじ逢はむ日までに
- Roma-ji
-
Kagirinaku omou namida ni sobochinuru sode wa kawakaji awamu hi made ni
- English Translation
-
My sleeve, drenched through
with tears of longing
that know no end,
will never dry, I think,
until the day we meet.
- Meaning
- My sleeve, drenched with tears of a longing that knows no bounds, will surely never dry until the day we meet again.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Parting Poems 401
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that the sleeve soaked with tears of boundless longing will not dry until the day of reunion. Where the preceding poem wraps up the tears as a keepsake, this one says the tear-soaked sleeve will not dry until they meet again, linking the tears to the length of time apart.
The author is listed as "anonymous," and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "that know no end," means boundlessly, showing the depth of feeling. It shares the word with poem 367, "beyond the boundless clouds"; that poem speaks of endless space, this one of endless longing.
The second line, "tears of longing," are tears shed in thinking of the other, leading to sobotsu in the third line.
The third line, "drenched through," uses sobotsu, to be soaked, with the perfective nuru to show the sleeve utterly wet.
The fourth line, "will never dry, I think," uses the negative conjectural ji to say it will not dry, and the poem breaks after this line.
The last line, "until the day we meet," sets the day of reunion as the limit, and its inversion with the fourth line impresses the length of the wait for reunion.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Akazu shite wakaruru sode no shiratama o kimi ga katami to tsutsumite zo yuku
- Next Poem
-
Kakikurashi koto wa furanamu harusame ni nureginu kisete kimi o todomemu