石間ゆく水の白波立ち返り
かくこそは見めあかずもあるかな
かくこそは見めあかずもあるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Ishima yuku mizu no shiranami tachikaeri kaku koso wa mime akazu mo aru kana
- English Translation
-
Running through the rocks,
the white waves upon the stream
rise and turn again:
so would I see you, again—
never have I had my fill.
- Meaning
- Like the white waves of water rushing between the rocks, rising and returning again and again, so would I see you over and over—for I can never have enough of you.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 682
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem overlays the white waves that keep rising and returning as water rushes between the rocks with the wish to meet the beloved again and again. The satisfaction and craving of a love that never has its fill are conveyed together with the force of the flowing water.
The closing "akazu mo aru kana" links through the word "aku" (to have one's fill) to "aku yoshi mogana" in the next poem, 683, and "miredomo akanu" in 684, so that the three poems form a sequence on a love that never tires of meeting.
The first line, "ishima yuku," means "running between the rocks," suggesting a swift current.
The second line, "mizu no shiranami," refers to the white waves that rise where the water strikes the rocks; up to here the lines form a preface to the third line.
The third line, "tachikaeri," overlays the waves rising again and again with the sense of "over and over." It shares its wording with "nao tachikaeru kokoro kana" in 734 of this book.
The fourth line, "kaku koso wa mime," means "thus would I see you," with the particle "koso" closed by "me," the perfective form of the volitional "mu," in a kakari-musubi; the poem pauses here.
The final line, "akazu mo aru kana," means "how I never have my fill," closing with the exclamatory "kana."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yume ni dani miyu to wa mieji asana asana waga omokage ni hazuru mi nareba
- Next Poem
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Ise no ama no asana yūna ni kazuku chō mirume ni hito o aku yoshi mogana