Ime ni dani nani ka mo mienu miyuredomo ware ka mo madō koi no shigeki ni

夢にだに何かも見えぬ見ゆれども
我れかも惑ふ恋の繁きに

Roma-ji: Ime ni dani nani ka mo mienu miyuredomo ware ka mo madō koi no shigeki ni
English Translation: Even in my dreams,
why is it you do not appear?
Or perhaps you do,
and it is I who go astray,
so dense is this love of mine
Meaning: Why do you not appear to me, even in my dreams? Or perhaps you do appear, and I am too bewildered to know it, my love is so overwhelming.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2595

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
The speaker wonders why the beloved does not appear even in dreams, then reconsiders: perhaps the beloved does appear, but the speaker, bewildered by overwhelming love, does not recognize it. In the form of a dialogue with oneself, the poem conveys a wavering heart that wants to believe the lover's feelings have not changed.
Whereas poem 2589 of this book inferred from the lover's absence in dreams that the lover did not care, this poem finds the reason in the speaker's own confusion, treating the same theme of dreams from the opposite direction.
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, "ime ni dani": "at least in my dreams." The particle "dani" expresses a minimal wish: if not in waking life, then at least in a dream.
Second line, "nani ka mo mienu": "why do you not appear?" The particle "ka" with the emotive "mo" is answered by the attributive "mienu." The sense breaks after the second line.
Third line, "miyuredomo": "though you do appear." This line turns the poem, the speaker denying the question just asked.
Fourth line, "ware ka mo madō": "is it I who am bewildered?" "Ka" and "mo" mark the question, answered by the attributive "madou."
Fifth line, "koi no shigeki ni": "because my love is so dense." "Shigeki" is the attributive of an adjective meaning thick or intense, and "ni" marks the cause. The fourth and fifth lines are inverted.
Source: Manyoshu
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