我が背子が朝明の姿よく見ずて
今日の間を恋ひ暮らすかも
今日の間を恋ひ暮らすかも
- Roma-ji
-
Waga seko ga asake no sugata yoku mizute kyō no aida o koikurasu kamo
- English Translation
-
My dear husband's form
as he left at break of dawn,
I did not see it well,
and so all through this long day
I pass the hours in longing
- Meaning
- I never looked closely at my beloved as he left at dawn, and so I spend this whole day longing for him.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2841
Headnote: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
This is a woman's poem: because she did not watch closely as her husband left at dawn after their night together, she spends the whole day in longing. As the opening poem of Book Twelve, it begins the book's day of love with a parting at dawn. The headnote, "Expressing Thoughts Directly," marks a category of poems that state the heart's feelings plainly, without recourse to images of things.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet who served under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note shows that this poem was taken from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, though scholars differ on whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a song he recorded.
The book's final poem, 3220, is a woman's poem of waiting for her lover late into the night, so the book that opens with a dawn parting closes with a night of waiting.
Line one, "Waga seko ga": "seko" is a word a woman uses fondly for her husband or lover, showing that the poem is spoken by a woman.
Line two, "asake no sugata," refers to the figure of the man leaving at dawn after the night together. Poem 3095 in this book shares the same line, and the two meet in their sorrow over the morning parting.
Line three, "yoku mizute": "zute" joins the negative "zu" to the particle "te," meaning "without looking closely."
Line four, "kyō no aida o," refers to the whole day from the parting until night comes again.
Line five, "koikurasu kamo," means to pass the day in longing, with "kamo" a final particle of exclamation.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Ikubaku mo furanu ame yue waga seko ga mina no kokodaku taki mo todoro ni
- Next Poem
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Aga kokoro tomoshimi omou aratayo no hitoyo mo ochizu ime ni mie koso