人目多み直に逢はずてけだしくも
我が恋ひ死なば誰が名ならむも
我が恋ひ死なば誰が名ならむも
- Roma-ji
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Hitome ōmi tada ni awazute kedashiku mo aga koishinaba ta ga na naramu mo
- English Translation
-
With so many eyes
we never meet face to face;
if by any chance
I should die of love for you,
whose name would people speak
- Meaning
- With so many watching, we never meet in person; if I should die of love, whose name would people talk of then?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Dialogue Poems 3105
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Dialogue Poems"
The poet reproaches the beloved: if one should die of love, kept apart by watching eyes, it is the beloved whose name would be on everyone's lips. It shares the idea of poem 2873 in this book, and with the reply in the next poem forms a question-and-answer pair.
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, "hitome ōmi," means "because there are so many eyes."
Line two, "tada ni awazute," means "without meeting in person."
Line three, "kedashiku mo," means "if by chance."
Line four, "aga koishinaba," means "if I should die of love."
Line five, "ta ga na naramu mo," means "whose name would it be?", reproaching the beloved, whose name would be on everyone's lips. It rests on the same idea as "ta ga na narame ya" in poem 2873 in this book.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Awamu to wa chitabi omoedo arigayou hitome o ōmi koitsutsu zo oru
- Next Poem
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Aimimaku hoshiki ga tame wa kimi yori mo ware zo masarite ibukashimi suru