魂合へば相寝るものを小山田の
鹿猪田守るごと母し守らすも
鹿猪田守るごと母し守らすも
- Roma-ji
-
Tama aeba ainuru mono o oyamada no shishida moru goto haha shi morasu mo
- English Translation
-
When two souls unite,
they lie down side by side,
yet like the watch kept
on hill fields against the boar and deer,
my mother watches over me
- Meaning
- When two souls are joined they sleep together, yet my mother keeps watch over me like a farmer guarding a hillside field against deer and boar.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3000
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A daughter laments that, though it is natural for those whose souls are joined to sleep together, her mother watches her like a field guard. There is humor in comparing her mother to a farmer guarding fields against boar and deer. A variant gives the last line as "haha ga morashishi."
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, "tama aeba," means "when two souls meet."
Line two, "ainuru mono o," means "they sleep together, and yet."
Line three, "oyamada no," means "of a small field in the hills."
Line four, "shishida moru goto," means "as one guards a field against boar and deer."
Line five, "haha shi morasu mo," means "my mother keeps watch," likening the mother watching her daughter to a field guard.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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