天雲のそくへの極み遠けども
心し行けば恋ふるものかも
心し行けば恋ふるものかも
- Roma-ji
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Amakumo no sokue no kiwami tōkedomo kokoro shi yukeba kouru mono kamo
- English Translation
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Like the clouds of heaven
at the farthest edge of sky,
though you are so far,
since my heart goes out to you,
how I long for you, it seems
- Meaning
- Though you are as far away as the clouds at the very edge of heaven, my heart travels to you, and so, it seems, I long for you.
- Commentary
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Book Four Love Poems 553
Headnote: "Two poems sent by Princess Nyū to Lord Ōtomo, Governor-General of the Dazaifu"
This is the first of two poems Princess Nyū sent to Ōtomo no Tabito, then in Tsukushi as Governor-General of the Dazaifu. Though he is as far away as the edge of the heavens where the clouds end, her heart goes out to him, and so, she says, she longs for him. The vast image of the sky's limit expresses the great distance between the capital and Tsukushi.
The author, Princess Nyū, is a woman of whom little is known, apparently on close terms with Ōtomo no Tabito. The recipient, Ōtomo no Tabito, a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro, had gone down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
First line, "Like the clouds of heaven," names the clouds of the sky, first setting forth something distant and boundless.
Second line, "at the farthest edge of sky," uses sokue, "the far reaches, the limit": the furthest point to which the clouds recede.
Third line, "though you are so far," means though it is distant; tōke is an old perfective form of the adjective tōshi.
Fourth line, "since my heart goes out to you," uses the emphatic shi: because the heart goes, expressing the belief that the heart crosses any distance to reach the beloved.
Fifth line, "how I long for you, it seems," means so it is that one longs, with the exclamatory kamo.
- Author
- Princess Nyū
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Aga kimi wa wake o ba shine to omoe kamo au yo awanu yo futa hashiruramu
- Next Poem
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Furuhito no tamaeshimetaru kibi no sake yameba sube nashi nukisu tabaramu