ぬばたまの夜を長みかも我が背子が
夢に夢にし見えかへるらむ
夢に夢にし見えかへるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Nubatama no yo o nagami kamo waga seko ga ime ni ime ni shi miekaeru ramu
- English Translation
-
Is it that the night,
the jet-black night, is long,
that my dear husband
in dream on dream on dream
keeps coming back to me
- Meaning
- Is it because the dark night is so long that my beloved keeps appearing to me in dream after dream?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2890
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
A woman wonders whether the length of the night is why her beloved keeps appearing in her dreams. The repetition "ime ni ime ni shi" evokes the long night passing from one dream to the next.
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, "nubatama no," is a pillow word for "yo," night.
Line two, "yo o nagami kamo," means "is it because the night is long?", with "mi" expressing cause and "kamo" a question, corresponding to "ramu" in line five.
Line three, "waga seko ga," is a woman's word for the man she loves.
Line four, "ime ni ime ni shi," repeats "in dreams, in dreams," expressing dreams seen again and again.
Line five, "miekaeru ramu," means "why does he keep appearing," surmising the cause.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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