紫の我が下紐の色に出でず
恋ひかも痩せむ逢ふよしをなみ
恋ひかも痩せむ逢ふよしをなみ
- Roma-ji
-
Murasaki no waga shitahimo no iro ni idezu koi kamo yasemu au yoshi o nami
- English Translation
-
Like my under-cord
dyed in purple, hidden deep,
I show no color,
yet will I waste away with love,
having no way to meet you
- Meaning
- Like my purple under-cord hidden from view, I let no color show, yet will I waste away with love, with no way to meet you?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2976
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
Just as the purple under-cord is hidden from view, the poet wonders whether to waste away without letting love show. The pain of hidden love is entrusted to the color of the concealed cord.
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, "murasaki no," means "purple-dyed," the same opening as poem 2974 in this book.
Line two, "waga shitahimo no," means "my under-cord"; with line one it forms an introduction leading, through something hidden from sight, to "iro ni idezu."
Line three, "iro ni idezu," means "without letting it show in my face."
Line four, "koi kamo yasemu," means "will I waste away with love?"
Line five, "au yoshi o nami," means "since there is no way to meet."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Komanishiki himo no musubi mo tokisakezu iwaite matedo shirushi naki kamo
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Nani yue ka omowazu aramu himo no o no kokoro ni irite kōshiki mono o