偽りのなき世なりせばいかばかり
人の言の葉うれしからまし
人の言の葉うれしからまし
- Roma-ji
-
Itsuwari no naki yo nariseba ikabakari hito no koto no ha ureshikaramashi
- English Translation
-
If this were a world
in which there were no falsehoods,
how much, how deeply
would the words you speak to me
fill my heart with happiness!
- Meaning
- If only this were a world without lies—how happy your words would make me!
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 712
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Had this been a world without falsehood, how she could have rejoiced in her lover's words—the poem voices the sorrow of being unable to trust them. Using the counterfactual "seba ... mashi," it expresses in plain words the grief of being unable simply to rejoice because the real world is full of lies.
Taking up "koto nomi zo yoki" in the preceding poem, it forms a pair with the next poem, 713, sharing the word "itsuwari" (falsehood). "Koto no ha" is also the word sung in 688 of this book.
The first line, "itsuwari no," refers to lies and falsehood; the next poem begins with the same word, "itsuwari to."
The second line, "naki yo nariseba," means "if it were a world without," "se," the irrealis of the past auxiliary "ki," plus "ba" forming a counterfactual condition.
The third line, "ikabakari," is an adverb meaning "how much."
The fourth line, "hito no koto no ha," means "your words," referring to the lover's vows.
The final line, "ureshikaramashi," means "how glad I would be," closing with the counterfactual "mashi" in response to the "seba" of the second line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ide hito wa koto nomi zo yoki tsukikusa no utsushigokoro wa iro koto ni shite
- Next Poem
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Itsuwari to omou mono kara imasara ni ta ga makoto o ka ware wa tanomamu