恋ひ死ねとするわざならしむばたまの
夜はすがらに夢に見えつつ
夜はすがらに夢に見えつつ
- Roma-ji
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Koishine to suru waza narashi mubatama no yoru wa sugara ni yume ni mietsutsu
- English Translation
-
This must be a scheme
to make me die of longing
all the jet-black night
through the long hours till dawn
you keep appearing in my dreams
- Meaning
- It must be a scheme to make me die of love: all night long, through the jet-black dark, you keep appearing in my dreams.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Love Poems I 526
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet sings that the beloved's appearing in his dreams all night long must be a scheme to make him die of love. Meeting in a dream should be a joy, but waking returns him to the reality of not meeting, so the longing only deepens and grows painful. It paradoxically expresses the sweetness and bitterness of love in dreams.
The third line in the main text reads mubatama no, which does not match ubatama no in the kana reading line. Here the main text is followed.
First line, "This must be a scheme": koishine to, "die of longing," takes the form of a command.
Second line, "to make me die of longing": waza means a deed or doing, and rashi expresses grounded inference. The poem pauses here, and the following lines give the grounds in an inverted structure.
Third line, "all the jet-black night": mubatama no is a pillow word for night and blackness, also written nubatama no or ubatama no.
Fourth line, "through the long hours till dawn": yoru wa sugara ni means all through the night.
Fifth line, "you keep appearing in my dreams": yume ni mietsutsu means appearing again and again in dreams, with tsutsu marking continuation. Among the dream poems that continue from poem 516 of this book, it sings of the paradox that seeing the beloved in dreams becomes a torment.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yume no uchi ni aimimu koto o tanomitsutsu kuraseru yoi wa nemu kata mo nashi
- Next Poem
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Namidagawa makura nagaruru ukine ni wa yume mo sadaka ni miezu zo arikeru