隠り沼の下ゆは恋ひむいちしろく
人の知るべく嘆きせめやも
人の知るべく嘆きせめやも
- Roma-ji
-
Komorinu no shita yu wa koimu ichishiroku hito no shirubeku nageki seme ya mo
- English Translation
-
Like a hidden marsh,
deep beneath I'll love you;
so plain to see
that people come to know,
would I ever sigh like that
- Meaning
- Like a marsh hidden under reeds, I will love you deep within; would I ever sigh so plainly that others could tell?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3021
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poet vows a hidden love, loving deep within like a marsh covered by reeds and never sighing so that others would know. The next poems, 3022 and 3023, also feature a hidden marsh, forming a sequence of three.
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, "komorinu no," a marsh hidden under grasses, is a pillow word for "shita," beneath, since its water flows unseen below.
Line two, "shita yu wa koimu," means "I will love deep within," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "ichishiroku," means "plainly, conspicuously."
Line four, "hito no shirubeku," means "so that people would know."
Line five, "nageki seme ya mo," is a rhetorical question, "would I sigh so? Never."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Ikaruga no Yoruka no ike no yoroshiku mo kimi o iwaneba omoi zo waga suru
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Yukue nami komoreru onu no shitamoi ni ware zo monomou konogoro no aida