玉衣のさゐさゐしづみ家の妹に
物言はず来にて思ひかねつも
物言はず来にて思ひかねつも
- Roma-ji
-
Tamakinu no saisai shizumi ie no imo ni mono iwazu kinite omoikanetsu mo
- English Translation
-
Like a jeweled robe
the rustling bustle settled,
to my wife at home
I came away without a word,
and now I cannot bear it
- Meaning
- When the rustling commotion of departure had died away, I realized I had left without a word to my wife at home, and now my longing is more than I can bear.
- Commentary
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Book Four Love Poems 503
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro"
In the rush of departure the poet left without a proper word to his wife at home, and now he regrets it and can hardly bear his longing. The onomatopoeic saisai conveys the commotion of setting out, and the poem traces how, in the quiet that follows, his thoughts turn again to his wife.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu; a master of both long and short poems, he was revered by later ages as the saint of poetry.
First line, "Like a jeweled robe," means a beautiful robe and is taken as a pillow word leading, through the rustle of cloth, to saisai in the second line.
Second line, "the rustling bustle settled," uses saisai for the rustle of robes or the murmur of people, with shizumi, "having quieted"; it is read as the settling of the departure's commotion.
Third line, "to my wife at home," runs to six syllables and means to the wife left at home.
Fourth line, "I came away without a word," means I came without speaking; kinite joins ku, "to come," to the perfective nu and te, adding an extra syllable.
Fifth line, "and now I cannot bear it," uses kane, "unable," the perfective tsu, and the exclamatory mo: I can no longer endure my longing.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Natsuno yuku oshika no tsuno no tsuka no ma mo imo ga kokoro o wasurete omoe ya
- Next Poem
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Kimi ga ie ni waga sumisaka no ieji o mo ware wa wasureji inochi shinazu wa