君に逢はず久しくなりぬ玉の緒の
長き命の惜しけくもなし
長き命の惜しけくもなし
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ni awazu hisashiku narinu tama no o no nagaki inochi no oshikeku mo nashi
- English Translation
-
Without meeting you
so long a time has passed;
like a jewel cord,
this long life of mine
I would not grieve to lose
- Meaning
- So much time has passed without my meeting you that this long life of mine, like a jewel cord, is nothing I would grieve to lose.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3082
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A woman laments that so long has passed without meeting her lover that she does not care for her long life. Continuing the jewel cord of the preceding poem, it overlays the length of the cord with the length of life.
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 ni awazu," means "without meeting you," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line two, "hisashiku narinu," means "it has been long," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "tama no o no," is a pillow word for "nagaki," long, since the cord is long. It continues the jewel cord of the preceding poem.
Line four, "nagaki inochi no," means "of a long life."
Line five, "oshikeku mo nashi," means "I have no regret," the same final line as poem 3042 in this book.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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