葦鴨の騒ぐ入江の白波の
知らずや人をかく恋ひむとは
知らずや人をかく恋ひむとは
- Roma-ji
-
Ashigamo no sawagu irie no shiranami no shirazu ya hito o kaku koimu to wa
- English Translation
-
Where the reed-ducks cry
in the cove the white waves rise
and just so, unaware
does she not know, I wonder
how much I love her so
- Meaning
- Like the white waves rising in the cove where the reed-ducks clamor, does she not know, I wonder, how deeply I love her?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 533
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Taking as its preface the white waves of a cove where ducks among the reeds clamor, the poem laments that the beloved surely does not know how deeply the poet loves. It leads from shiranami, white waves, to shirazu, not knowing, through their shared sound, overlaying the scene of noisy ducks and rough water with a restless heart.
First line, "Where the reed-ducks cry": ashigamo are ducks at the water's edge where reeds grow.
Second line, "in the cove the white waves rise": sawagu irie no, of the cove where the ducks clamor, suggests a heart stirred by love.
Third line, "and just so, unaware": shiranami no, the white waves rising in the cove; lines one through three form a preface leading through repeated sound to shirazu in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "does she not know, I wonder": shirazu ya hito wo means "does that person not know?", with ya expressing a question. The poem pauses here in an inverted structure.
Fifth line, "how much I love her so": kaku koimu to wa means "that I would love like this," giving afterward the content of "not knowing" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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