風吹けば峰に別るる白雲の
絶えてつれなき君が心か
絶えてつれなき君が心か
- Roma-ji
-
Kaze fukeba mine ni wakaruru shirakumo no taete tsurenaki kimi ga kokoro ka
- English Translation
-
When the wind blows, it
parts from the mountain peak,
the white cloud, and so,
utterly cut off and cold
is your heart toward me.
- Meaning
- Like the white clouds that part from the mountain peak when the wind blows, your heart has broken off from me and grown completely cold.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems II 601
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet laments the beloved's heart, which has drawn completely away from him and grown cold, like white clouds that break away from the peak when the wind blows. The mountain scene of the upper verse serves as a preface, and the clouds leaving the peak and vanishing without a trace are overlaid with the severed relationship and the beloved's coldness. Together with the next poem, two poems by the same poet on a "cold" beloved stand side by side.
Mibu no Tadamine was a poet of the early Heian period and the father of Mibu no Tadami. Although a low-ranking official, he was chosen as one of the compilers of the Kokinshū. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
First line, "kaze fukeba": the perfective form with ba, expressing "whenever the wind blows."
Second line, "mine ni wakaruru": wakaru means to part, here to drift away from the peak.
Third line, "shirakumo no": the first three lines form a preface, leading from the breaking of clouds to taete in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "taete tsurenaki": taete overlays "breaking off," as clouds do, and "utterly." Tsurenashi means cold. The next poem, 602, also sings of a "cold one," and the two poems are linked by the same word.
Fifth line, "kimi ga kokoro ka": ka is an exclamatory particle, closing with the lament "how cold your heart is!"
- Author
- Mibu no Tadamine
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Natsumushi o nani ka iikemu kokoro kara ware mo omoi ni moenu beranari
- Next Poem
-
Tsukikage ni waga mi o kauru mono naraba tsurenaki hito mo aware to ya mimu