春の野に草食む駒の口やまず
我を偲ふらむ家の子ろはも
我を偲ふらむ家の子ろはも
- Roma-ji
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Haru no no ni kusa hamu koma no kuchi yamazu a o shinouramu ie no koro wa mo
- English Translation
-
In the fields of spring
the horses grazing on the grass
never rest their mouths:
so she must speak and long for me,
my dear girl at home, ah me.
- Meaning
- As horses grazing on the spring fields never rest their mouths, my dear one at home must be speaking of me and longing for me without pause.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3532
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
As the mouths of horses grazing on the spring fields never stop, his wife at home must be speaking of him and missing him constantly, the traveler imagines. The peaceful spring scene is laid over his thoughts of the family far away.
It is one of the love exchanges. From here, a group of poems about horses follows. It is taken as a traveler's poem of longing for home.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.
First line, "haru no no ni": The spring fields, a peaceful scene.
Second line, "kusa hamu koma no": "Koma" is a horse; the horse poems begin here. The first two lines form a preface.
Third line, "kuchi yamazu": "Without resting their mouths," laying the grazing horse over his wife's talk.
Fourth line, "a o shinouramu": "Shinou" is to long for, and "ramu" is conjecture about the present.
Final line, "ie no koro wa mo": "Wa mo" is exclamatory, thinking of the girl at home.
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Imo o koso aimi ni koshika mayobiki no yokoyamabero no shishi nasu omoeru
- Next Poem
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Hito no ko no kanashike shida wa hamasudori anayumu koma no oshikeku mo nashi