うたて異に心いぶせし事計り
よくせ我が背子逢へる時だに
よくせ我が背子逢へる時だに
- Roma-ji
-
Utate ke ni kokoro ibuseshi kotohakari yokuse waga seko aeru toki dani
- English Translation
-
Worse and worse
my heart is gloomy and oppressed;
find some way for us,
take good care, my dear lord,
at least while we're together
- Meaning
- My heart grows ever more gloomy; please manage things well, my love, at least while we are together.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts Directly 2949
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts Directly"
A woman voices her gloom and asks her lover to manage things well, at least while they are together. It suggests circumstances that troubled even their time together.
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, "utate ke ni," means "ever more badly."
Line two, "kokoro ibuseshi," means "my heart is gloomy," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "kotohakari," means a plan or means, a word also found in poems 2898 and 2908 in this book.
Line four, "yokuse waga seko," means "do it well, my love," a woman addressing a man.
Line five, "aeru toki dani," means "at least while we meet," asking for care during their time together.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Asu no hi wa sono kado yukamu idete miyo koitaru sugata amata shirukemu
- Next Poem
-
Wagimoko ga yotode no sugata miteshi yori kokoro sora nari tsuchi wa fumedomo