今のごと恋しく君が思ほえば
いかにかもせむするすべのなさ
いかにかもせむするすべのなさ
- Roma-ji
-
Ima no goto koishiku kimi ga omohoeba ika ni ka mo semu suru sube no nasa
- English Translation
-
If even as now
you come so dearly to mind,
so full of longing,
what am I to do, oh what—
there is nothing I can do
- Meaning
- If I long for you this much already, what shall I ever do? There is nothing at all that I can do.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen 3928
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi was appointed Governor of Etchū in the intercalary seventh month of the eighteenth year of Tenpyō and set out for his post in the seventh month. At that time his aunt, Lady Sakanoue of the Ōtomo, sent him two poems"
If she longs for him so much now at his departure, what will she do?—there is nothing to be done. A poem of the sorrow of parting. This is one of two poems that Lady Sakanoue, Yakamochi's aunt and mother-in-law, sent him in 746 as he set off for his new post as Governor of Etchū. Already overwhelmed with longing at the moment of farewell, she thinks of the long absence ahead and frankly expresses her helplessness.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Tabito. She was Yakamochi's aunt and, since her daughter Sakanoue no Ōiratsume became his wife, also his mother-in-law.
First line, "ima no goto": "as now," marking the moment of departure.
Second line, "koishiku kimi ga": "you, so dearly."
Third line, "omohoeba": "if you come to mind so," a hypothetical with ba after the irrealis.
Fourth line, "ika ni ka mo semu": ka is interrogative, bound to semu in the attributive—"what shall I do?" The poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "suru sube no nasa": "how there is no way at all"; ending on a noun intensifies the lament of helplessness.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Kusamakura tabi yuku kimi o sakiku are to iwaibe suetsu aga toko no he ni
- Next Poem
-
Tabi ni inishi kimi shimo tsugite ime ni miyu aga katakoi no shigekereba kamo