思ふどちまとゐせる夜は唐錦
たたまく惜しき物にぞありける
たたまく惜しき物にぞありける
- Roma-ji
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Omou dochi matoi seru yo wa karanishiki tatamaku oshiki mono ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
Friends of one heart
gathered in a circle by night—
like Chinese brocade
too precious to cut, too dear
is the moment to rise and part.
- Meaning
- On a night when close friends sit together in a circle, rising to leave is as hard to bear as cutting a length of fine Chinese brocade.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 864
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The joy of a night spent sitting in a circle with dear friends is laid over the reluctance to cut a beautiful Chinese brocade, expressing how hard it is to rise from the gathering. As a poem of banquet and companionship, it is placed near the beginning of Miscellaneous Poems I. The author is unknown.
First line "omou dochi": dochi means companions, showing a gathering of people of one heart.
Second line "matoi seru yo wa" describes a night of sitting in a ring and talking; seru is the verb su with the attributive of the continuative auxiliary ri.
Third line "karanishiki," a fine imported brocade, leads into "cut." It pairs with the "Chinese robe" of the next poem, 865, as both sing of foreign cloth.
Fourth line "tatamaku oshiki" is a pivot word joining cutting brocade and rising from one's seat; maku is the nominalized form of the auxiliary mu, meaning "to be about to rise."
Fifth line "mono ni zo arikeru" closes zo with keru, the attributive of the exclamatory keri, voicing a feeling newly realized. Poem 866 shares the same final line, so the neighboring poems echo one another.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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