はしきやし栄えし君のいましせば
昨日も今日も我を召さましを
昨日も今日も我を召さましを
- Roma-ji
-
Hashikiyashi sakaeshi kimi no imashiseba kinō mo kyō mo wa o mesamashi o
- English Translation
-
Ah, my dear, dear lord,
who flourished so in his days—
were he living still,
yesterday and today, too,
he would call me to his side.
- Meaning
- Ah, my beloved lord, who flourished so—were he still alive, he would have called for me yesterday and today as always.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Elegies 454
Headnote: "Six poems on the death of the Great Counselor Lord Ōtomo in the seventh month of autumn, Tenpyō 3, the year kanoto-hitsuji"
This is the first of six poems on the death of the Great Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Had his flourishing master lived, he would have called for him yesterday and today as usual—the emptiness of days without his lord. It shows the grief peculiar to a servant, who feels his master's absence in small daily things.
The six poems on the death of the Great Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito in the seventh month of autumn in Tenpyō 3 (731) form a sequence grieving the loss of a master. The left note to the fifth says these five were composed by the attendant Yo no Myōgun, who could not bear his devotion to his lord and was deeply moved in his heart.
The poet, Yo no Myōgun, is thought to have been a descendant of immigrants from Paekche, and served Ōtomo no Tabito as his attendant.
First line "Ah, my dear, dear lord": hashikiyashi is an exclamation of fondness.
Second line "who flourished so in his days" refers to Tabito, who rose to Great Counselor.
Third line "were he living still": imasu is the honorific of "to be," and seba a counterfactual condition.
Fourth line "yesterday and today, too" shows the unchanging round of days.
Fifth line "he would call me to his side": mesu means to summon, and mashi is counterfactual.
- Author
- Yo no Myōgun
- Source
- Manyoshu
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-
Wagimoko ga ueshi ume no ki miru goto ni kokoro musetsutsu namida shi nagaru
- Next Poem
-
Kaku nomi ni arikeru mono o hagi no hana sakite ari ya to toishi kimi wa mo