山菅のやまずて君を思へかも
我が心どのこの頃はなき
我が心どのこの頃はなき
- Roma-ji
-
Yamasuge no yamazute kimi o omoe kamo aga kokorodo no konogoro wa naki
- English Translation
-
Like the mountain sedge,
never ceasing, I think of you;
is that the reason
why the steadiness of heart
has left me now of late
- Meaning
- Is it because I think of you without ceasing, like the mountain sedge, that my steadiness of heart has gone from me these days?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3055
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman laments that, perhaps because she thinks of her beloved without ceasing, her steadiness of heart has left her lately. Closing the sedge series, it depicts a heart unsettled by constant longing.
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, "yamasuge no," is a pillow word leading by sound to "yamazu," unceasing, taking up the sedge of the preceding poems.
Line two, "yamazute kimi o," means "you, without ceasing."
Line three, "omoe kamo," means "is it because I think of you?", with "kamo" a question concluded by the attributive "naki" in line five.
Line four, "aga kokorodo no": "kokorodo" means a steady heart, strength of mind.
Line five, "konogoro wa naki," means "is gone these days."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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