相思はぬ人のゆゑにかあらたまの
年の緒長く我が恋ひ居らむ
年の緒長く我が恋ひ居らむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ai omowanu hito no yue ni ka aratama no toshi no o nagaku a ga koi oramu
- English Translation
-
For one who loves not
in return, is it for that
I, with years untamed
as rough gems, long as a cord,
go on in this yearning still?
- Meaning
- Is it for one who does not love me back that I go on yearning, through years drawn out like a long cord?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2534
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Reflecting on herself, the speaker laments that she has gone on loving for long years someone who does not love her in return: a poem of unrequited love. Knowing the love will not be returned yet unable to give it up, she voices her heart in the form of a question to herself.
Like poem 2530 it uses the pillow word "aratama no," but here, as is usual, it attaches to "year." Moreover "toshi no o," the cord of years, likens something long-lasting to a cord, just as "iki no o," the cord of breath, does in poem 2536, and the two answer each other at close range.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.
First line, "ai omowanu": "who does not love in return." It is a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Second line, "hito no yue ni ka": "is it for the sake of someone...?" The particle "ka" marks a question and is resolved by "oramu" in the last line.
Third line, "aratama no": a pillow word attached to "year."
Fourth line, "toshi no o nagaku": "through long years." "Toshi no o" likens the long continuance of years to a cord.
Fifth line, "a ga koi oramu": "do I go on yearning?" The attributive form of the conjectural "mu" resolves the "ka" of the second line, expressing a sigh of self-reflection.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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