心なき秋の月夜の物思ふと
寐の寝らえぬに照りつつもとな
寐の寝らえぬに照りつつもとな
- Roma-ji
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Kokoro naki aki no tsukuyo no mono omou to i no neraenu ni teritsutsu motona
- English Translation
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Heartless as it is,
on this autumn moonlit night,
lost in brooding thought,
though I cannot sleep at all,
it shines on and on, in vain.
- Meaning
- The heartless autumn moon keeps shining on and on for no reason, while I, lost in brooding, cannot sleep.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2226
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the Moon"
This poem, almost resentfully, sings of the autumn moon shining on heartlessly on a night when the speaker cannot sleep for brooding. The moon's beautiful light is received as something that deepens brooding instead. Like 1964, the lament of the higurashi singing when one broods, it uses "tsutsu motona," singing of the lament that nature's beauty disturbs the heart.
The first line, "kokoro naki," means heartless, unfeeling.
The second line, "the autumn moonlit night," is the subject.
The third line, "lost in brooding," names the speaker's state.
In the fourth line, "i no neraenu ni," "i" means sleep and "rae" expresses possibility: though I cannot sleep.
In the last line, "teritsutsu motona," "motona" means to no purpose; it closes in the same "tsutsu motona" form as 1964.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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