わたつみの沖つ潮合ひに浮かぶ泡の
消えぬものから寄る方もなし
消えぬものから寄る方もなし
- Roma-ji
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Watatsumi no okitsu shioai ni ukabu awa no kienu mono kara yoru kata mo nashi
- English Translation
-
Out on the sea
where the tides meet far offshore,
the foam afloat—
though it does not fade away,
has nowhere it can drift to rest.
- Meaning
- Like foam floating where the tides meet far out on the open sea, I do not vanish, yet I have nowhere to turn for refuge.
- Commentary
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Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 910
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Using foam floating where the tides meet far out at sea as an introduction, the poem voices the forlornness of one who does not vanish yet has nowhere to rely on. The drifting foam is laid over the speaker's own helpless lot. The author is unknown.
In this book, poems on the sea and shores continue from this poem through 918.
First line "watatsumi no" means the sea or the sea god, presenting the vast ocean. The next poem, 911, begins with the same line, so the two stand together.
Second line "okitsu shioai ni" points to where the currents meet offshore; tsu is an old case particle.
Third line "ukabu awa no": the first three lines form a preface to the fourth, likening a fleeting self to foam.
Fourth line "kienu mono kara": mono kara is an adversative particle, "though it does not vanish."
Fifth line "yoru kata mo nashi" overlays foam with no shore to reach and a self with no one to rely on.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tare o ka mo shiru hito ni semu takasago no matsu mo mukashi no tomo naranaku ni
- Next Poem
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Watatsumi no kazashi ni saseru shirotae no nami mote yueru awajishimayama