我が心ともしみ思ふ新夜の
一夜もおちず夢に見えこそ
一夜もおちず夢に見えこそ
- Roma-ji
-
Aga kokoro tomoshimi omou aratayo no hitoyo mo ochizu ime ni mie koso
- English Translation
-
My heart is wanting,
yearning with a hungry love;
of the coming nights,
let not a single one pass
without you in my dreams
- Meaning
- My heart aches with unsatisfied longing; on every new night to come, without missing a single one, please appear to me in my dreams.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2842
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poem voices the hunger of a heart that cannot meet its beloved and asks that the lover appear in dreams every night. In that age, a lover appearing in one's dream was taken as a sign that the lover was thinking of one.
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 last three lines of the dialogue poem 3120 in this book, "aratayo no hitoyo mo ochizu ime ni mie koso," are identical to this poem's, so the same expression is placed far apart in the book.
Line one, "aga kokoro," means "my heart," read "aga kokoro" in the kana line.
Line two, "tomoshimi omou": "tomoshimi" is the adjective "tomoshi" with the suffix "mi," expressing a heart unsatisfied and yearning.
Line three, "aratayo no," refers to the nights that come anew each evening.
Line four, "hitoyo mo ochizu": the verb "otsu" means to be missing, so the phrase means "without missing a single night."
Line five, "ime ni mie koso": "koso" is a final particle expressing a wish directed at another, asking the lover to appear in dreams. "Dream" was anciently read "ime."
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga seko ga asake no sugata yoku mizute kyō no aida o koikurasu kamo
- Next Poem
-
Utsukushi to aga omou imo o hitomina no yuku goto mime ya te ni makazu shite