幾世しもあらじわが身をなぞもかく
海人の刈る藻に思ひ乱るる
海人の刈る藻に思ひ乱るる
- Roma-ji
-
Ikuyo shimo araji waga mi o nazo mo kaku ama no karu mo ni omoi midaruru
- English Translation
-
Not for many years
shall I linger in this world;
why then should I so
like the seaweed fishers reap
be tangled in my brooding?
- Meaning
- I am not one who will live on for many ages, so why is it that my thoughts are tangled like the seaweed the fisherfolk cut from the sea?
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 934
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet reflects on a self that will not live long, yet broods endlessly, tangled like seaweed cut by the fisherfolk. The gap between a limited life and endless worry becomes a lament over the sorrows of the world.
Tangled, harvested seaweed is a common image in waka for a troubled heart. Following the Asuka River of the previous poem, this one again uses a waterside scene to express a state of mind.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "not for many years," uses the emphatic particle shimo, which looks ahead to the negation in the second line.
The second line means "I, who shall not linger long." The auxiliary ji expresses negative conjecture, and the particle o carries a concessive sense: "even though."
The third line, "why then should I so," is a question the poet puts to herself or himself, answered by the attributive form midaruru in the last line.
The fourth line, "like the seaweed fishers reap," compares the heart to seaweed cut by the fisherfolk; tangled seaweed leads naturally to the "tangled" of the last line.
The last line, "be tangled in my brooding," describes a heart in disarray. Closing in the attributive form after the question word nazo, it leaves a lingering note of lament.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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