あずへから駒の行ごのす危はとも
人妻子ろをまゆかせらふも
人妻子ろをまゆかせらふも
- Roma-ji
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Azue kara koma no yugonosu ayawa tomo hitozuma koro o mayukaserau mo
- English Translation
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By the crumbling cliff,
as a horse goes picking its way,
dangerous though it be,
this girl who is another's wife—
I cannot take my eyes away.
- Meaning
- Dangerous as a horse picking its way along a crumbling cliff, still I cannot take my eyes off that girl who is another man's wife.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3541
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Though it is as perilous as a horse going along a crumbling cliff, the singer cannot take his eyes off another man's wife. As in 3539, the danger of a forbidden love and an irrepressible longing are expressed.
It is one of the love exchanges, as the horse poems continue. It is a companion to 3539, and its last line is obscure, with its reading and meaning uncertain.
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, "azue kara": "Azue" is thought to be the edge of a cliff, containing the same "azu" as in 3539.
Second line, "koma no yugonosu": "Yugo" is "yuku" and "nosu" an eastern form of "nasu": as a horse goes. The first two lines form a preface.
Third line, "ayawa tomo": "Ayawa" is an eastern form of "ayauku": even if it is dangerous.
Fourth line, "hitozuma koro o": The same as the fourth line of 3539.
Final line, "mayukaserau mo": An obscure line, read by some as "I keep my eyes on her."
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Sawatari no tego ni iyukiai akagoma ga agaki o hayami koto towazu kinu
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Sazareishi ni koma o hasasete kokoro itami a ga mou imo ga ie no atari kamo