相見ぬは幾久さにもあらなくに
ここだく我れは恋ひつつもあるか
ここだく我れは恋ひつつもあるか
- Roma-ji
-
Aiminu wa ikuhisasa ni mo aranaku ni kokodaku are wa koitsutsu mo aru ka
- English Translation
-
Not so very long
is it since we two last met,
not so long at all,
yet how much I go on still
longing, longing after you
- Meaning
- It has not been so very long since we last met, yet how much I go on longing for you.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Love Poems 666
Headnote: "Two poems by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
It has not been long since they met, yet she longs for him so much. It seems a playful reply to Abe no Mushimaro's preceding poem.
According to the left note, Lady Sakanoue's mother, Lady Ishikawa, and Mushimaro's mother, Lady Azumi, were sisters living together and close; so Lady Sakanoue and Mushimaro were not distant but talked intimately and exchanged playful poems in question and answer.
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She left many poems in the Man'yōshū and is esteemed as a leading woman poet.
First line, "Not so very long," means our not meeting.
Second line, "is it since we two last met," means for however long a time.
Third line, "not so long at all," means it is not so.
Fourth line, "yet how much I go on still," means so very much, I.
Fifth line, "longing, longing after you," runs to eight syllables: how I go on longing!
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
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