今朝はしもおきけむ方も知らざりつ
思ひ出づるぞ消えて悲しき
思ひ出づるぞ消えて悲しき
- Roma-ji
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Kesa wa shimo okikemu kata mo shirazaritsu omoiizuru zo kiete kanashiki
- English Translation
-
This morning, like the frost,
where I rose from as it settled
I did not even know;
recalling it, like frost that melts,
I fade away in sorrow
- Meaning
- This morning I did not even know how I rose and left, as frost settles unnoticed; now, remembering, I feel I will melt away like the frost in my sorrow.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 643
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
At the parting this morning, the poet was so distraught he does not know how he rose and went home; now, remembering, he is sad enough to fade away. With shimo punning on an emphatic particle and "frost," and oki on "frost settles" and "rise," the melting of frost is overlaid with a sorrow in which the self seems to vanish.
The author, recorded as Oe no Chisato, was a son of Oe no Otondo. At Emperor Uda's command he compiled Kudai Waka, poems composed on lines of Chinese verse. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages.
The first line, "kesa wa shimo," uses shimo as a pivot word for the emphatic particle and "frost," stressing "this morning" while bringing in frost.
The second line, "okikemu kata mo," uses oki as a pivot word for "settle" and "rise," overlaying where the frost lay with how the speaker rose, using the past conjectural kemu.
The third line, "shirazaritsu," means "I did not know," ending firmly with the perfective tsu, with a pause after the third line.
The fourth line, "omoiizuru zo," means "when I recall it," stressed with zo.
The final line, "kiete kanashiki," means "so sad I fade away," with "melt" an associated word of frost, closing the zo construction with the attributive kanashiki.
- Author
- Oe no Chisato
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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