たち変り月重なりて逢はねども
さね忘らえず面影にして
さね忘らえず面影にして
- Roma-ji
-
Tachikawari tsuki kasanarite awanedomo sane wasuraezu omokage ni shite
- English Translation
-
The moons have changed,
and months have piled upon months,
though we do not meet,
never can I forget you,
for your image stays with me.
- Meaning
- Though the months change and pile up and we do not meet, I cannot forget you at all, for your face keeps rising before my eyes.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems 1794
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed in longing for a maiden, with tanka"
Though months have changed and passed without meeting, the speaker cannot forget her at all, for her image keeps appearing before him. However long the time apart, the feeling does not fade.
This is the second envoy to the long poem 1792 in this book. Following the lament in the preceding poem that months have passed without meeting, this one declares that even so she cannot be forgotten. According to the left note, the three poems from the long poem to this one come from the Sakimaro Collection.
The author, Tanabe no Sakimaro, was a poet of the mid-Nara period, a clerk in the Office of Sake Brewing who served Tachibana no Moroe. This poem is taken from the Sakimaro Collection, and it is widely held to be his own work.
The first line, "the moons have changed," marks the passing months.
The second line, "and months have piled upon months," responds to the preceding poem's final line, "the months have passed away."
The third line, "though we do not meet," echoes the preceding poem's "unmet days."
The fourth line, "never can I forget you," uses sane with a negative for "not at all," and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "for your image stays with me," places the reason last through inversion.
- Author
- Tanabe no Sakimaro (from the Sakimaro Collection)
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kakiho nasu hito no yokogoto shigemi kamo awanu hi maneku tsuki no henuramu
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Imoragari imaki no mine ni shigeritatsu tsumamatsu no ki wa furuhito mikemu