人恋ふることを重荷と担ひもて
あふごなきこそわびしかりけれ
あふごなきこそわびしかりけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Hito kouru koto o omoni to ninaimote ōgo naki koso wabishikarikere
- English Translation
-
Loving someone so,
I take it as a heavy load
upon my shoulders,
but with no pole, no time to meet—
that is what is hard to bear
- Meaning
- I shoulder my love as a heavy burden, yet what is truly wretched is having no carrying pole, no chance to meet.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1058
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Likening love to a heavy load, the poet puns on "ōgo," the carrying pole used to shoulder burdens, and "au go," a time to meet, lamenting that there is neither pole nor chance of meeting. The homely comparison of love to carrying freight gives the poem its haikai quality.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."
First line, "Hito kouru," means loving someone.
Second line, "koto o omoni to," treats the pain of love as a load to be carried.
Third line, "ninaimote," means shouldering and carrying.
Fourth line, "ōgo naki koso," is a pivot word joining "ōgo," a carrying pole, and "au go," a time to meet, with emphatic "koso."
Fifth line, "wabishikarikere," takes the perfective "kere" in response to "koso." Load, shouldering, and carrying pole are associated words.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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