恋ひ恋ひて後も逢はむと慰もる
心しなくは生きてあらめやも
心しなくは生きてあらめやも
- Roma-ji
-
Koi koite nochi mo awamu to nagusamoru kokoro shi naku wa ikite arame ya mo
- English Translation
-
Longing on and on,
"one day we will surely meet,"
were it not for this
heart that comforts me so,
could I go on living still
- Meaning
- After all this longing, if I did not have the heart to console myself that we will meet one day, could I go on living?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2904
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
Amid the pain of longing, the poet says life would be unbearable without the comfort of believing they will meet one day. In showing hope of reunion as what sustains life, the poem presents love's suffering and its hope at once.
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, "koi koite," means "longing and longing," the repetition showing the depth of feeling.
Line two, "nochi mo awamu to," means "that we will meet later," treating the hope of reunion, as in poem 2868 in this book, as what sustains life.
Line three, "nagusamoru," means "consoling oneself."
Line four, "kokoro shi naku wa," means "if there were no such heart," with "shi" emphatic.
Line five, "ikite arame ya mo," is a rhetorical question, "could I live? No, I could not."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Ito nokite usuki mayone o itazura ni kakashimetsutsu mo awanu hito kamo
- Next Poem
-
Ikubaku mo ikeraji inochi o koitsutsu zo ware wa ikizuku hito ni shiraezu