旅にしてもの恋ほしきに鶴が音も
聞こえずありせば恋ひて死なまし
聞こえずありせば恋ひて死なまし
- Roma-ji
-
Tabi ni shite mono kohoshiki ni tazu ga ne mo kikoezu ariseba koite shinamashi
- English Translation
-
Out upon my road,
filled with longing as I am,
if even the cranes'
calling were not heard by me,
I would surely die of love.
- Meaning
- On this journey I am filled with longing; if I could not even hear the cries of the cranes, I would surely die of yearning.
- Commentary
-
Book One Miscellaneous Poems 67
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems from the journey of the Retired Empress to the Naniwa Palace"
Homesick on the road, the poet finds his one comfort in the cries of the cranes; if even those could not be heard, he says, he would die of longing. In taking comfort from the cranes, one also senses sympathy for a bird believed to call to its mate. The left note names the author as Takayasu no Ōshima.
Takayasu no Ōshima is a figure whose life is unknown. The left note to this poem tells us only that he attended Retired Empress Jitō's journey to Naniwa.
The first line, "on a journey," shows that the speaker is a traveler.
In the second line, mono is a prefix meaning "somehow" and kohoshi means longing: "though I somehow long for home."
The third line, "even the cranes' cries," carries with mo the sense of "at least."
In the fourth line, se is the irrealis form of the past ki, which with ba makes a counterfactual condition: "if they could not be heard." The line is hypermetric.
In the last line, mashi is the counterfactual auxiliary: "I would have died of longing." The "seba ... mashi" pattern reveals, conversely, that the cranes' cries are in fact his comfort. In poem 71 of this book the cranes' cries instead keep the traveler awake, and the same sound is sung in contrasting ways.
- Author
- Takayasu no Ōshima
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Ōtomo no takashi no hama no matsu ga ne o makuraki nuredo ie shi shinowayu
- Next Poem
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Ōtomo no mitsu no hama naru wasuregai ie naru imo o wasurete omoe ya