我が命の長く欲しけく偽りを
よくする人を捕ふばかりを
よくする人を捕ふばかりを
- Roma-ji
-
Waga inochi no nagaku hoshikeku itsuwari o yoku suru hito o torau bakari o
- English Translation
-
That I wish my life
to last a long, long time
is only so that
the one who tells so many lies
I may catch at last
- Meaning
- The only reason I want to live a long life is to catch that person who tells so many lies.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2943
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
The poet jokingly declares that the only reason to wish for a long life is to catch a faithless lover who tells endless lies. There is wit in turning resentment into laughter through exaggeration.
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, "waga inochi no," means "my life," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line two, "nagaku hoshikeku," uses the nominalized form of "hoshi," meaning "my wish for it to be long." In contrast with poem 2868 in this book, which wished for a long life in hope of reunion, here long life is wished for out of resentment.
Line three, "itsuwari o," means "lies."
Line four, "yoku suru hito o," means "the one who tells them often," referring to a faithless lover.
Line five, "torau bakari o," means "only to catch them," voicing resentment in jest.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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