思ひやる越の白山知らねども
一夜も夢に越えぬ夜ぞなき
一夜も夢に越えぬ夜ぞなき
- Roma-ji
-
Omoiyaru koshi no shirayama shiranedomo hitoyo mo yume ni koenu yo zo naki
- English Translation
-
Shirayama of Koshi,
where my thoughts go out to you,
I have never known,
yet there is not a single night
I do not cross it in dreams.
- Meaning
- I have never seen Shirayama in Koshi, where my thoughts go out to you, and yet there is not a single night when I do not cross it in my dreams.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 980
Headnote: "Sent to someone who was in Koshi"
Sent to someone in the province of Koshi, this poem says that although the poet has never seen Shirayama there, every night in dreams he crosses that mountain to visit, conveying deep feeling for someone far away.
Following the previous poem, 979, it also sings of Shirayama in Koshi, so two poems on the mountain stand together. It echoes the sound of Shirayama in shiranedomo, "though I do not know," and of Koshi in koenu, "not cross."
The author, "Ki no Tsurayuki" as written in kana, is Ki no Tsurayuki, the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and author of its kana preface. He is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary and is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "where my thoughts go out to you," means thinking of someone far away.
The second line, "Shirayama of Koshi," is the same mountain as in the previous poem.
The third line, "I have never known," echoes the shira of Shirayama in shira-nedomo.
The fourth line, "a single night," is paired with "in dreams."
The last line, "I do not cross it in dreams," uses a double negative to stress that he crosses every night. Koe, "cross," echoes Koshi in the second line, and zo governs the attributive naki.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kimi o nomi omoi koshiji no shirayama wa itsuka wa yuki no kiyuru toki aru
- Next Poem
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Iza koko ni waga yo wa henamu sugawara ya fushimi no sato no aremaku mo oshi