里近く家や居るべきこの我が目の
人目をしつつ恋の繁けく
人目をしつつ恋の繁けく
- Roma-ji
-
Sato chikaku ie ya orubeki kono waga me no hitome o shitsutsu koi no shigekeku
- English Translation
-
Close to the village,
should I ever make my home?
This eye of mine
keeps watch for others' eyes,
and how my longing grows
- Meaning
- Should I ever have made my home so near the village? These eyes of mine are always wary of others' eyes, and how thick my longing grows.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2876
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Because the poet lives near the village and must always be wary of others' eyes, longing only grows. Regret that extends even to the choice of home reveals how cramped a love bound by others' gazes can be.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.
Line one, "sato chikaku," means "near the village."
Line two, "ie ya orubeki": "ya" is interrogative, the poet asking whether one should live there and implying regret at having done so. The poem pauses here.
Line three, "kono waga me no," is a hypermetric line of six syllables meaning "these eyes of mine."
Line four, "hitome o shitsutsu," means "always minding others' eyes," with "me" in line three echoing "hitome."
Line five, "koi no shigekeku," uses the nominalized form of "shigeshi," exclaiming "how my longing thickens."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Ametsuchi ni sukoshi itaranu masurao to omoishi ware ya ogokoro mo naki
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Itsu wa na mo koizu ari to wa aranedomo utate konogoro koishi shigeshi mo