吉野川水の心は早くとも
滝の音には立てじとぞ思ふ
滝の音には立てじとぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
-
Yoshinogawa mizu no kokoro wa hayaku tomo taki no oto ni wa tateji to zo omou
- English Translation
-
Though the heart of the water
of the Yoshino River
runs swift and strong,
like the roar of its rapids
I am resolved to raise no sound
- Meaning
- However swift my heart may run, like the waters of the Yoshino River, I am resolved not to let it roar aloud like the rapids for all to hear.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 651
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Even if love surges like the rapids of the Yoshino River, the poet resolves not to let it become a rumor heard by others like the roar of the falls. Likening passionate love to a swift current, it expresses the determination to keep it hidden.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
Continuing the river imagery of the preceding poem, it carries on the series of poems about guarding a secret love.
The first line, "yoshinogawa," is a poetic place in Yamato, sung as a swift-flowing river.
The second line, "mizu no kokoro wa," overlays the force of the current with the speaker's own heart.
The third line, "hayaku tomo," means "even if swift," an adversative hypothetical condition.
The fourth line, "taki no oto ni wa," means "in a way heard like the roar of the rapids," a figure for rumor spreading.
The final line, "tateji to zo omou," means "I resolve not to raise it," using the negative volitional ji and zo, resolved by the attributive omou.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Natorigawa seze no mumoregi arawareba ika ni semu to ka aimisomekemu
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Koishiku wa shita ni o omoe murasaki no nezuri no koromo iro ni izu na yume