人言は夏野の草の繁くとも
妹と我れとし携はり寝ば
妹と我れとし携はり寝ば
- Roma-ji
-
Hitogoto wa natsuno no kusa no shigeku tomo imo to are to shi tazusawari neba
- English Translation
-
Though the talk of folk
like the grasses of summer fields
may grow thick and dense—
if my love and I lie down
hand in hand, it matters not.
- Meaning
- Though people's gossip grows thick as the grasses of the summer fields—so long as my beloved and I can sleep hand in hand.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1983
Headnote: "Love Expressed Through Grasses"
This poem declares that even if people's gossip grows thick as summer grass, it does not matter so long as the speaker can sleep with the beloved, and its headnote is "Love Expressed Through Grasses." The profusion of summer grass is a figure for the abundance of gossip, showing a strong love unafraid of the world's eyes. It shares the feeling of 1926 in the spring love poems, which says rumor would not matter.
The first line, "people's talk," names the gossip.
The second line, "like the grass of summer fields," is a simile leading into "thick."
In the third line, "shigeku tomo," "tomo" marks a concessive supposition: even if it is thick.
In the fourth line, "imo to are to shi," "shi" is emphatic, setting the two side by side.
In the last line, "tazusawari neba," "tazusawaru" means to join hands and "ba" marks a condition, leaving the strong feeling unfinished at the close.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Higurashi wa toki to nakedomo katakoi ni tawayame ware wa toki wakazu naku
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Kono koro no koi no shigekeku natsukusa no kariharaedomo oishiku gotoshi