宮城野のもとあらの小萩露を重み
風を待つごと君をこそ待て
風を待つごと君をこそ待て
- Roma-ji
-
Miyagino no motoara no kohagi tsuyu o omomi kaze o matsu goto kimi o koso mate
- English Translation
-
On Miyagi Plain,
the small bush clover, sparse below,
heavy with the dew,
waits for the wind—just so,
it is you for whom I wait.
- Meaning
- As the sparse-stemmed bush clover on Miyagi Plain, weighed down by dew, waits for the wind to shake it free, so do I wait for you.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 694
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Just as the small bush clover of Miyagi Plain waits for a wind to shake off its heavy dew, the speaker waits for the lover whose visit will dispel her sorrow. Overlaying dew with tears and the wind with the visitor, the poem entrusts the pain of waiting to the image of bush clover.
This poem closes the sequence on waiting that began with 689, ending it by stating plainly, "kimi o koso mate"—"it is you I wait for."
The first line, "Miyagino no," is the plain in Miyagi District of Mutsu (near present-day Sendai), a famed poetic place known for bush clover.
The second line, "motoara no kohagi," refers to small bush clover with sparse leaves near its base.
The third line, "tsuyu o omomi," means "because the dew is heavy," using the pattern noun + "o" + adjective stem + "mi" to express a cause. The dew carries the image of tears, and the line has six syllables, one more than usual.
The fourth line, "kaze o matsu goto," means "as it waits for the wind" to shake off the dew; up to here the lines form a comparison for the last line.
The final line, "kimi o koso mate," means "it is you I wait for," the particle "koso" closed by "mate," the perfective form of "matsu," in a kakari-musubi.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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