秋されば霧立ちわたる天の川
石並置かば継ぎて見むかも
石並置かば継ぎて見むかも
- Roma-ji
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Aki sareba kiri tachiwataru amanogawa ishinami okaba tsugite mimu kamo
- English Translation
-
When autumn comes round
the mists rise across its width,
River of Heaven;
if I set stepping stones there,
might we meet on without end?
- Meaning
- When autumn comes, mist spreads over the River of Heaven. If I laid stepping stones across it, could we meet each other again and again?
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4310
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems on the Tanabata festival, eight poems."
If I laid stepping stones across the River of Heaven, where mist spreads when autumn comes, could we meet again and again? The poem laments a meeting allowed but once a year. In the fifth of the eight poems Yakamochi composed alone beneath the River of Heaven, the idea of homely stepping stones rather than a boat or bridge carries the urgency of the wish.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.
The first line, "aki sareba," means "when autumn comes," saru meaning a season's arrival.
The second line, "kiri tachiwataru," describes mist spreading everywhere, making the dividing river feel still farther.
The third line, "amanogawa," is a noun of address, and the poem pauses here. It is the same as the third line of the poem two before.
The fourth line, "ishinami okaba," supposes laying stepping stones across the river, imagining a way over.
The closing line, "tsugite mimu kamo," "could we meet on and on?" ends with kamo, exclamation tinged with doubt.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Akikaze ni nabiku kawabi no nikogusa no nikoyaka ni shimo omōyuru kamo
- Next Poem
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Akikaze ni ima ka ima ka to himo tokite ura machioru ni tsuki katabukinu