わが恋は行方も知らず果てもなし
逢ふを限りと思ふばかりぞ
逢ふを限りと思ふばかりぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Waga koi wa yukue mo shirazu hate mo nashi au o kagiri to omou bakari zo
- English Translation
-
This love of mine
knows not where it is going,
nor has it an end;
only this I think: to meet you
would be the end of all.
- Meaning
- My love does not know where it is heading, and it has no end; all I can think is that meeting you would be the end of everything.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems II 611
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that he does not know where his love will lead and it has no end, but he thinks only that if he could meet the beloved, it might end there. The anxiety of a love with no visible future and a single-minded wish only to meet are expressed directly. "Au o kagiri" can be read both as making the meeting the final goal and as being ready to die once they have met.
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune was a poet of the early Heian period and one of the compilers of the Kokinshū. He held low provincial posts such as Junior Clerk of Kai and Senior Secretary of Izumi, but his poetic talent was highly regarded. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
First line, "waga koi wa": the same first line as 560 and 597 of this book, presenting his own love as the topic.
Second line, "yukue mo shirazu": "not knowing where it is headed."
Third line, "hate mo nashi": "nor is there any end," and the poem breaks here. By repeating mo in the second and third lines, the uncertainty of love is stated in succession.
Fourth line, "au o kagiri to": kagiri means the last, the limit, so "making the meeting the end."
Fifth line, "omou bakari zo": bakari is restrictive and zo is an emphatic particle, closing with the firm statement "that is all I think."
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Ware nomi zo kanashikarikeru hikoboshi mo awade sugoseru toshi shi nakereba