つれもなくなりゆく人の言の葉ぞ
秋より先のもみぢなりける
秋より先のもみぢなりける
- Roma-ji
-
Tsure mo naku nariyuku hito no kotonoha zo aki yori saki no momiji narikeru
- English Translation
-
Of one who is growing
ever colder toward me,
the leaves of her words
are the reddened autumn leaves
that turn before the autumn
- Meaning
- The words of someone who grows ever colder toward me are autumn leaves that change color even before autumn has come.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 788
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem likens the words of a lover growing cold to leaves that redden without waiting for autumn. The "leaves" in kotonoha, "words," lead to autumn foliage, depicting the change in words as a color change that outruns the season. It shares with the kotonoha of poem 782 the device of showing changing words through changing leaves.
The author, "Minamoto no Muneyuki no Ason," is Minamoto no Muneyuki, son of Prince Koretada, a son of Emperor Kōkō; he was given the surname Minamoto and made a commoner. He rose to Master of the Right Capital Office and is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, tsure mo naku, means cold and indifferent, like tsurenashi.
The second line, "one who is becoming cold," shows a change of heart in progress.
In the third line the "leaf" in kotonoha is an associated word for momiji in the last line. Zo is resolved by keru.
The fourth line, "before autumn," means leaves that should color in autumn change before their season.
The last line, narikeru, expresses realization: it is words that are the leaves reddening before autumn.
- Author
- Minamoto no Muneyuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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