あはれとも憂しとも物を思ふ時
などか涙のいと流るらむ
などか涙のいと流るらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Aware tomo ushi tomo mono o omou toki nado ka namida no ito nagaruramu
- English Translation
-
Whether tenderness
or whether pain be the thought
that fills up my heart,
why is it my tears should flow
so endlessly as they do?
- Meaning
- Whether my thoughts are tender or bitter, why is it that whenever I brood over love my tears flow so endlessly?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 805
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem asks why tears flow endlessly both when one feels tenderness and when one feels pain. Noting that opposite emotions of joy and sorrow both bring tears, it shows how deeply love stirs the heart.
The body text has nado ka in the fourth line, which does not match nani ka in the reading line. Here the body text is followed.
The first line, aware, means deeply moved or tender, the side of love's joy and feeling.
The second line, ushi, means painful, paired with aware in the first line. Mono o is the object of "think" in the third line.
The third line, "when I brood," names the time of being lost in love's troubles.
In the fourth line nado ka asks "why," resolved by ramu in the last line.
In the last line ito means "so very," and ramu asks the cause: why do they flow so?
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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