秋されば恋しみ妹を夢にだに
久しく見むを明けにけるかも
久しく見むを明けにけるかも
- Roma-ji
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Aki sareba koishimi imo o ime ni dani hisashiku mimu o akenikeru kamo
- English Translation
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Now autumn has come
my longing for her grows,
so at least in dreams
I would see her long,
but the night has turned to dawn
- Meaning
- Now that autumn has come, I long for her so; I wished at least to see my wife a long while in my dreams, but the night has already given way to dawn.
- Commentary
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Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3714
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings"
He laments that, his longing grown with autumn, he wished at least in dreams to see his wife a long while, but the night has dawned. The aching wish to meet in dreams the wife he cannot meet in reality is cut short by the brief night. Autumn was the season of the promised return, and the poem shows longing deepening all the more in that very autumn.
According to the headnote, this is one of eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings. Takashiki Bay lies within Asō Bay in Tsushima, thought to be present-day Takeshiki in Mitsushima, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The last nine poems of the sequence have no left notes, and the author of this poem is not named.
First line, "aki sareba": when autumn comes, the season of the promised return.
Second line, "koishimi imo o": "koishimi" is the stem of "koishi" with "mi," giving a cause: since I long for her, my wife.
Third line, "ime ni dani": "ime" is dream and "dani" means at least.
Fourth line, "hisashiku mimu o": "mu" is intention and "o" adversative: though I meant to see her long.
Fifth line, "akenikeru kamo": "ni" is perfective and "keru kamo" exclamatory: the night has dawned, the poem ends.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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