桃染めの浅らの衣浅らかに
思ひて妹に逢はむものかも
思ひて妹に逢はむものかも
- Roma-ji
-
Momozome no asara no koromo asaraka ni omoite imo ni awamu mono kamo
- English Translation
-
Like a robe dyed pale
in the color of peach blossom,
would I ever meet
my darling with a heart
as shallow as that hue
- Meaning
- Would I ever meet my beloved with feelings as shallow as the pale color of a peach-dyed robe?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2970
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
Using a robe dyed pale peach as an introduction, the poet vows not to meet the beloved with shallow feelings. It uses the same device as poem 2966 in this book, but where 2966 sings of a casual meeting that deepened into love, this poem stresses that the feeling was deep from the start.
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, "momozome no," means "dyed the pale red of peach blossoms."
Line two, "asara no koromo," is a pale-colored robe, which with line one forms an introduction leading to "asaraka ni."
Line three, "asaraka ni," means "lightly, shallowly."
Line four, "omoite imo ni," means "thinking so, to my beloved."
Line five, "awamu mono kamo," is a rhetorical question, "would I meet her so? Never."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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