はだすすき穂にはな出でそ思ひたる
心は知らゆ我れも寄りなむ
心は知らゆ我れも寄りなむ
- Roma-ji
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Hadasusuki ho ni wa na ide so omoitaru kokoro wa shirayu ware mo yorinamu
- English Translation
-
Like pampas grass,
do not let it show in plumes;
the love you harbor—
your heart is known to me;
I too shall go and draw near.
- Meaning
- Do not let it show like pampas plumes; the love you hold in your heart is already known to me. I too shall go and draw near to you.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3800
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Nine poems in reply by the maidens."
The maiden says that even if he does not reveal his feelings, she knows the old man's heart well, and so she too will draw near. The poem carries a gentle tenderness that perceives and accepts his hidden longing.
This is the set in which the nine maidens who had teased the Bamboo-Cutter answer his chōka and envoys one after another. From the second poem on, almost every one ends with "I too shall draw near," so that the maidens yield to the old man one by one.
The poet is one of the nine maidens the Bamboo-Cutter met; her name is not recorded. She is a figure of the tale, one of those the old man called immortals.
First line, "hadasusuki," is a pillow word for ho, "plume." The image of pampas grass in plume leads to feelings showing on the surface.
Second line, "ho ni wa na ide so," means "do not let it show." Na... so forms a prohibition, and the poem pauses after the second line.
Third line, "omoitaru," means "that you feel," modifying "heart" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "kokoro wa shirayu," means "your heart is known." Shirayu adds the spontaneous yu to shiru, meaning it is understood without being said.
Final line, "ware mo yorinamu," means "I too shall draw near," the refrain shared by the set.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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