まそ鏡直目に君を見てばこそ
命に向ふ我が恋やまめ
命に向ふ我が恋やまめ
- Roma-ji
-
Masokagami tadame ni kimi o miteba koso inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame
- English Translation
-
Like a mirror clear,
only if with my own eyes
I could see you,
then this love that stakes my life
might at last be stilled
- Meaning
- Only if I could see you with my own eyes, clear as a mirror, would this life-consuming love of mine be calmed.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2979
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman says that only if she could see her beloved with her own eyes would her life-staking love be calmed. Continuing the mirror theme of the preceding poem, it expresses a wish to see the person himself, not a reflection.
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, "masokagami," is a pillow word for "miru," to see, continuing the mirror of the preceding poem.
Line two, "tadame ni kimi o," means "you, with my own eyes."
Line three, "miteba koso," means "only if I saw," forming a kakari-musubi with the realis "yamame" in line five.
Line four, "inochi ni mukau," means "facing life itself," a love staked on one's life. It matches the variant last lines of poem 2883 in this book.
Line five, "aga koi yamame," means "my love might cease."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Masokagami mimase waga seko waga katami materamu toki ni awazarame ya mo
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Masokagami miakanu imo ni awazu shite tsuki no heyukeba ikeri tomo nashi