魂は朝夕にたまふれど
我が胸痛し恋の繁きに
我が胸痛し恋の繁きに
- Roma-ji
-
Tamashii wa ashita yūbe ni tamafuredo a ga mune itashi koi no shigeki ni
- English Translation
-
Your spirit, my lord,
morning and evening
comes to touch my own,
and yet my heart aches,
so thick my longing grows
- Meaning
- Morning and evening your spirit comes to touch mine, yet my heart aches, so thick does my longing grow.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3767
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
She sings that though his spirit draws close to her morning and evening, her heart aches as her longing grows. The third line, "tamafuredo," is variously interpreted, as spirits touching each other or as receiving a spirit, and no reading is settled. In any case, it expresses a heart not satisfied by the communion of spirits alone, aching with the pain of being unable to meet in person.
The author, Sano no Otogami no Otome, was a lady-in-waiting of low rank known as a nyoju, serving in the palace storehouse office; she is also written Sano no Chigami no Otome.
A left note reads "the above eight poems are by the young woman"; the eight poems from 3767 to 3774 of this book were sent by the young woman to Yakamori. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.
First line, "tamashii wa": thought to refer to Yakamori's spirit.
Second line, "ashita yūbe ni": morning and evening, that is, constantly.
Third line, "tamafuredo": interpreted variously as spirits touching each other or as receiving a spirit, with no settled reading; it turns with the adversative "do."
Fourth line, "a ga mune itashi": my heart aches; the poem breaks after the fourth line.
Fifth line, "koi no shigeki ni": "shigeshi" means dense, incessant: since my longing grows so thick, giving by inversion the reason for the ache at the end.
- Author
- Sano no Otogami no Otome
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Uruwashi to omoishi omowaba shitabimo ni yuitsuke mochite yamazu shinowase
- Next Poem
-
Kono koro wa kimi o omou to sube mo naki koi nomi shitsutsu ne nomi shi zo naku