わたつみとあれにし床を今さらに
払はば袖や泡と浮きなむ
払はば袖や泡と浮きなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Watatsumi to arenishi toko o imasara ni harawaba sode ya awa to ukinamu
- English Translation
-
My bed, gone to ruin,
become like the open sea—
should I now at last
sweep it clean, would not my sleeves
float away like foam?
- Meaning
- My bed has run to ruin, become a sea of tears; if I were to sweep it clean now, after all this time, would my sleeves not float away like foam?
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 733
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
With her lover's visits at an end, her bed has gone to ruin, turned into a sea by her tears; were she to sweep it clean now, her sleeves would float away like foam. Through the hyperbole of likening tears to the sea, the poem expresses the depth of the sorrow of sleeping alone.
Taking up the preceding poem's love for the same person, it sings of grief after the visits have ceased. "Are" (gone to ruin) also resonates with "hito no kokoro no arete miyuramu" in 741 of this book.
The author, "Ise," was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, governor of Ise, and served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She enjoyed Emperor Uda's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. She is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The first line, "watatsumi to," means "like the sea," exaggerating tears pooled as deep as the sea.
The second line, "arenishi toko o," means "the bed that has gone to ruin," left desolate since the visits stopped.
The third line, "imasara ni," means "now, after all this time," quietly hinting that he might visit again.
The fourth line, "harawaba sode ya," means "if I sweep it, my sleeves," with the particle "ya" forming a kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line.
The final line, "awa to ukinamu," means "would they float like foam?", ending with the hyperbole of sleeves afloat on a sea of tears.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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