寄るべなみ身をこそ遠く隔てつれ
心は君が影となりにき
心は君が影となりにき
- Roma-ji
-
Yorube nami mi o koso tōku hedatetsure kokoro wa kimi ga kage to nariniki
- English Translation
-
Having no means to draw near,
it is my body, indeed,
that I have kept far away;
but my heart has long become
your shadow, close beside you
- Meaning
- With no way to draw near, I have kept my body far away; yet my heart has already become your shadow, never leaving your side.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 619
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Though there is no way to approach and the body stays far off, the heart, the poet says, always follows the beloved like a shadow. Contrasting body and heart, it expresses a love whose thoughts never part even when the lovers are apart, through the familiar image of a shadow.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "yorube nami," gives the reason with the stem of nashi plus the suffix mi.
The second line, "mi o koso tōku," uses the emphatic koso to set the body against the heart.
The third line, "hedatetsure," closes the koso construction with tsure, the perfective in its realis form, and turns adversatively, with a pause after the third line.
The fourth line, "kokoro wa kimi ga," pairs with "body" in the second line and turns to the heart.
The final line, "kage to nariniki," concludes that the heart has become something that clings like a shadow. The perfective nu and past ki show that this has already come to pass.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Asami koso sode wa hitsurame namidagawa mi sae nagaru to kikaba tanomamu
- Next Poem
-
Itazura ni yukite wa kinuru mono yue ni mimaku hoshisa ni izanawaretsutsu