おほかたは何かも恋ひむ言挙げせず
妹に寄り寝む年は近きを
妹に寄り寝む年は近きを
- Roma-ji
-
Ōkata wa nani kamo koimu kotoage sezu imo ni yorinemu toshi wa chikaki o
- English Translation
-
On the whole, why now
should I be lost in longing?
Without loud words,
the year I'll lie beside my love
is surely drawing near
- Meaning
- Why should I pine at all? Without making any fuss, the year when I will sleep beside my beloved is close at hand.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2918
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet tells himself there is no need to pine and fuss, for the year he will sleep beside his beloved is near. In this effort to calm an impatient heart, an inability to wait shows through all the more.
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, "ōkata wa," means "on the whole, after all."
Line two, "nani kamo koimu," is a rhetorical question, "why should I pine?" The poem pauses here.
Line three, "kotoage sezu": "kotoage" means to declare something loudly in words.
Line four, "imo ni yorinemu," means "to sleep beside my beloved."
Line five, "toshi wa chikaki o," means "since that year is near," telling himself that the day they will be joined is close.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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