君待つと庭のみ居ればうち靡く
我が黒髪に霜ぞ置きにける
我が黒髪に霜ぞ置きにける
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi matsu to niwa nomi oreba uchinabiku waga kurokami ni shimo zo okinikeru
- English Translation
-
Waiting for you,
I lingered out in the garden,
and on my black hair
that streams and sways
the frost has settled now
- Meaning
- Waiting for you, I stayed out in the garden, and frost has settled on my long, flowing black hair.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3044
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman sings that while she waited in the garden for her lover, frost settled on her black hair. The poem of Empress Iwanohime, number 87 in Book Two, has "uchinabiku waga kurokami ni shimo no oku made ni," sharing the image of frost on black hair for a woman who waits. The variant in the left note gives lines three to five as "shirotae no waga koromode ni tsuyu zo okinikeru."
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, "kimi matsu to," means "waiting for you."
Line two, "niwa nomi oreba," means "since I stayed only in the garden."
Line three, "uchinabiku," means "flowing, swaying," modifying "kurokami," black hair.
Line four, "waga kurokami ni," means "on my black hair."
Line five, "shimo zo okinikeru": "zo" is concluded by the attributive "keru," the frost showing how long she has waited.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Tsuyushimo no keyasuki aga mi oinu tomo mata ochikaeri kimi o shi matamu
- Next Poem
-
Asashimo no kenubeku nomi ya toki nashi ni omoiwataramu iki no o ni shite