草枕旅行く君を人目多み
袖振らずしてあまた悔しも
袖振らずしてあまた悔しも
- Roma-ji
-
Kusamakura tabi yuku kimi o hitome ōmi sode furazu shite amata kuyashi mo
- English Translation
-
You who went away
on your journey, grass for pillow,
with so many eyes,
I did not wave my sleeve,
and how I now regret it
- Meaning
- With so many people watching, I did not wave my sleeve to you as you set out on your journey, and now I regret it bitterly.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Poems Lamenting Parting 3184
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems Lamenting Parting"
The poet bitterly regrets not having waved a sleeve to the departing beloved for fear of watching eyes. Waving a sleeve at parting was thought to draw the other's spirit near, and the poem voices regret at having failed to do so.
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 yuku kimi o," means "you, setting out on a journey."
Line three, "hitome ōmi," means "because there were many eyes."
Line four, "sode furazu shite," means "without waving my sleeve." Waving sleeves at parting also appears in poem 3212 in this book.
Line five, "amata kuyashi mo," means "how bitterly I regret it."
- Author
- Unknown
- Source
- Manyoshu
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