草枕旅の紐解く家の妹し
我を待ちかねて嘆かふらしも
我を待ちかねて嘆かふらしも
- Roma-ji
-
Kusamakura tabi no himo toku ie no imo shi wa o machikanete nagekau rashi mo
- English Translation
-
With grass for pillow,
my traveling cord comes loose;
my wife at home
must be weary of waiting,
and sighing for me still
- Meaning
- The cord of my traveling robe comes undone; my wife at home must be tired of waiting for me and sighing.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Thoughts Arising on Journeys 3147
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thoughts Arising on Journeys"
The poet takes the loosening of his traveling cord as a sign that his wife at home is sighing, tired of waiting. The fourth in the series of cord poems, it shows concern for the wife waiting at home.
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, "kusamakura," is a pillow word for "tabi," journey.
Line two, "tabi no himo toku," means "my traveling cord comes loose," and the poem pauses here.
Line three, "ie no imo shi," means "my wife at home," with "shi" emphatic.
Line four, "wa o machikanete," means "tired of waiting for me," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Line five, "nagekau rashi mo," means "she seems to keep sighing," with "fu" marking continuation.
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kusamakura tabi no koromo no himo tokete omōyuru kamo kono toshigoro wa
- Next Poem
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Tamakushiro makineshi imo o tsuki mo hezu okite ya koemu kono yama no saki