まそ鏡見飽かぬ妹に逢はずして
月の経ゆけば生けりともなし
月の経ゆけば生けりともなし
- Roma-ji
-
Masokagami miakanu imo ni awazu shite tsuki no heyukeba ikeri tomo nashi
- English Translation
-
Like a polished mirror,
my love I never tire to see,
without meeting her
the months go by, and now
I hardly feel alive
- Meaning
- As the months go by without seeing my beloved, whom I could never tire of looking at, I hardly feel alive.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2980
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A man laments that as months pass without meeting the beloved he could never tire of seeing, he hardly feels alive. The third of the mirror poems, it entrusts the feeling of never tiring of her to the mirror pillow word.
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 "mi," to see, the third poem in a row to include a mirror.
Line two, "miakanu imo ni," means "my beloved, whom I never tire of seeing."
Line three, "awazu shite," means "without meeting."
Line four, "tsuki no heyukeba," means "as the months pass."
Line five, "ikeri tomo nashi," means "I hardly feel alive." Poems 3060, 3107, and 3185 in this book end with the same line.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Masokagami tadame ni kimi o miteba koso inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame
- Next Poem
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Hafuri ra ga itsuku mimoro no masokagami kakete shinoitsu au hito goto ni