直の逢ひは逢ひかつましじ石川に
雲立ち渡れ見つつ偲はむ
雲立ち渡れ見つつ偲はむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tada no ai wa aikatsumashiji ishikawa ni kumo tachiwatare mitsutsu shinowamu
- English Translation
-
To meet face to face
is something we cannot do—
over Ishikawa,
let the clouds rise and spread wide:
I will watch them and remember.
- Meaning
- To meet you face to face is no longer possible. Let clouds rise and spread over the Ishikawa—I will gaze on them and remember you.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Elegies 225
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems composed by his wife, Yosami no Otome, at the time of the death of Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro"
Since she can never again meet him face to face, she asks that clouds at least rise over the Ishikawa, so that she may gaze on them and remember her husband. Clouds were thought to hold the spirit or image of the dead.
This is the second of the two poems Yosami no Otome composed at Hitomaro's death, and its authorship follows the headnote of the pair.
The author, Yosami no Otome, was the wife of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and is otherwise unknown.
The first line, "tada no ai wa," means "a direct meeting," and is hypermetric, with six syllables.
In the second line, "aikatsumashiji," katsu means "to be able" and mashiji is negative conjecture: we will surely be unable to meet. The poem pauses here. It uses the same turn of phrase as "arikatsumashiji" in 94 by Fujiwara no Kamatari in this book.
The third line, "ishikawa ni," names the river of the land where her husband lies, as in the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "kumo tachiwatare," is an imperative: clouds, rise and spread everywhere. The poem pauses here.
In the final line, "mitsutsu shinowamu," mu expresses intention: I will look at them and remember him. The final line of 233 in this book is the same.
- Author
- Yosami no Otome
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kyō kyō to waga matsu kimi wa ishikawa no kai ni majirite ari to iwazu ya mo
- Next Poem
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Aranami ni yorikuru tama o makura ni oki ware koko ni ari to tare ka tsugenamu