人言の繁くしあらば君も我れも
絶えむと言ひて逢ひしものかも
絶えむと言ひて逢ひしものかも
- Roma-ji
-
Hitogoto no shigeku shi araba kimi mo are mo taemu to iite aishi mono kamo
- English Translation
-
"If the talk grows thick,
then let us part," is that
what you and I
promised to each other
when first we came to meet
- Meaning
- Did you and I meet having promised, "If the gossip grows thick, we will part"? Surely not.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Dialogue Poems 3110
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Dialogue Poems"
A woman chides the man's faintheartedness in the preceding poem, reminding him that they did not begin their love meaning to part over mere gossip. Through a rhetorical question, she recalls to him the firmness of their vow.
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, "hitogoto no," means "people's gossip."
Line two, "shigeku shi araba," means "if it should grow thick," with "shi" emphatic.
Line three, "kimi mo are mo," means "you and I," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line four, "taemu to iite," means "saying we would part."
Line five, "aishi mono kamo," is a rhetorical question, "did we meet so?", chiding the man's faintheartedness by insisting their bond was not one to break over gossip.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Nemokoro ni omou wagimo o hitogoto no shigeki ni yorite yodomu koro kamo
- Next Poem
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Sube mo naki katakoi o su to konogoro ni waga shinubeki wa ime ni mieki ya