恋ふることまされる今は玉の緒の
絶えて乱れて死ぬべく思ほゆ
絶えて乱れて死ぬべく思ほゆ
- Roma-ji
-
Kouru koto masareru ima wa tama no o no taete midarete shinubeku omōyu
- English Translation
-
Now that my longing
has grown greater than before,
like a jewel cord
that snaps and scatters wide,
I feel that I might die
- Meaning
- Now that my longing has grown stronger, I feel I might die, like a jewel cord that snaps and scatters its beads.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3083
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
Now that longing has grown stronger, the poet feels close to death, like a jewel cord that snaps and scatters its beads. Closing the three jewel-cord poems, it overlays the snapping cord with life coming to an end.
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, "kouru koto," means "my longing."
Line two, "masareru ima wa," means "now that it has grown."
Line three, "tama no o no," means "like the jewel cord," leading to "taete midarete." It continues the jewel cord of the two preceding poems and closes the series.
Line four, "taete midarete," means "snapping and scattering," overlaying the broken cord and scattered beads with the end of life.
Line five, "shinubeku omōyu," means "I feel I might die," a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kimi ni awazu hisashiku narinu tama no o no nagaki inochi no oshikeku mo nashi
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Ama otome kazuki toru to iu wasuregai yo ni mo wasureji imo ga sugata wa