Azukinaku nani no tawakoto imasara ni warawagoto suru oibito ni shite

あづきなく何のたはこと今さらに
童言する老人にして

Roma-ji: Azukinaku nani no tawakoto imasara ni warawagoto suru oibito ni shite
English Translation: How wretched, how vain,
what nonsense is this I speak,
now, so late as this,
talking like a little child,
I who am an aged man
Meaning: How wretched, what nonsense this is! Now, at this late hour, talking like a child, I who am an old man.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2582

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Though old, the speaker mocks himself for now uttering childish words of love, calling them nonsense. Exasperation and embarrassment at still being stirred by love in old age are folded into this self-mocking tone.
It belongs to the category "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." Like poem 2580, two poems earlier in this book, it opens with "azukinaku," and both express dismay at the speaker's own state of love. As a poem about love in old age, it stands out among the love poems of Book Eleven of the Man'yoshu.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "azukinaku": "helplessly, wretchedly." The same word appears in the third line of poem 2580 of this book, and it sets out the speaker's self-reproach at the start.
Second line, "nani no tawakoto": "what nonsense!" It dismisses the speaker's own words as foolish.
Third line, "imasara ni": "now, at this late date." It stresses the present time of old age.
Fourth line, "warawagoto suru": "speaking childish words." It treats words of love as something infantile.
Fifth line, "oibito ni shite": "being an old man." Placing at the end what would logically come before "warawagoto suru" is an inversion that sharpens the self-mockery.
Source: Manyoshu
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