阿武隈に霧立ち曇り明けぬとも
君をばやらじ待てばすべなし
君をばやらじ待てばすべなし
- Roma-ji
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Abukuma ni kiri tachikumori akenu tomo kimi o ba yaraji mateba sube nashi
- English Translation
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At Abukuma
the mist rises and clouds all:
though day should break,
I will not let you go from me,
for waiting is past bearing.
- Meaning
- Though mist rises over the Abukuma and the dawn breaks, I will not let you go, for waiting for you again is more than I can bear.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1087
Headnote: "Songs of the East: Michinoku Song"
The song gives voice to a woman who will not let her lover go even at daybreak. Thinking how painful it is to wait for his next visit, she refuses to send him away: a frank and urgent love song. No author is recorded.
The Michinoku songs are folk songs of the province of Michinoku, today's Tōhoku region, forming the group of seven from poem 1087 to 1093. They are provincial songs taken up into court performance.
The first line, "at Abukuma," names the Abukuma River in Michinoku, setting a place name at the head of the Michinoku group.
The second line, "mist rising and clouding," paints the riverside at dawn.
The third line, "though day should break," uses the perfective nu and the concessive tomo.
The fourth line, "I will not let you go," uses ji, negative intention. The poem breaks here.
The last line, "for waiting is past bearing," adds the reason she will not send him away.
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Ōmi no ya kagami no yama o tatetareba kanete zo miyuru kimi ga chitose wa
- Next Poem
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Michinoku wa izuku wa aredo shiogama no ura kogu fune no tsunade kanashi mo