息の緒に我が息づきし妹すらを
人妻なりと聞けば悲しも
人妻なりと聞けば悲しも
- Roma-ji
-
Iki no o ni waga ikizukishi imo sura o hitozuma nari to kikeba kanashi mo
- English Translation
-
The girl for whom
with my life's breath I sighed,
even she, I hear,
has become another's wife,
and hearing it, I grieve
- Meaning
- Even the girl I sighed for with my very life's breath, I hear, has become another man's wife, and the news fills me with grief.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Dialogue Poems 3115
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Dialogue Poems"
A man grieves on hearing that the girl he loved with his very life has become another's wife. With the woman's reply in the next poem, it 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, "iki no o ni," means "with my life's breath," the same phrase as in poem 3045 in this book.
Line two, "waga ikizukishi," means "for whom I sighed in longing."
Line three, "imo sura o," means "even that girl."
Line four, "hitozuma nari to," means "that she has become another's wife."
Line five, "kikeba kanashi mo," means "hearing it, I grieve."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kiwamarite ware mo awamu to omoedomo hito no koto koso shigeki kimi ni are
- Next Poem
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Waga yue ni itaku na wabi so nochi tsui ni awaji to iishi koto mo aranaku ni