たちこもの立ちの騒きに相見てし
妹が心は忘れせぬかも
妹が心は忘れせぬかも
- Roma-ji
-
Tachikomo no tachi no sawaki ni aimiteshi imo ga kokoro wa wasure senu kamo
- English Translation
-
Like birds taking wing
in the bustle of setting out
we met face to face;
the heart of my wife then
I cannot ever forget
- Meaning
- In the commotion of departure, sudden as birds taking wing, I met my wife, and her heart then I can never forget.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4354
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
In the commotion of departure I met my wife, and her heart then I cannot forget: the poem recalls his wife at the moment of parting. It is the eighth poem from Kazusa. In the brief time they shared in the uproar of setting out, he felt the depth of her heart.
The author, Hasetsukabe no Yoromaro, is recorded as a regular guard from Nagasa District in Kazusa; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "tachikomo no," thought to be the name of a waterfowl, is a pillow word for tachi, "rising, setting out." It shares the idea of a Suruga guard's "like waterfowl rising in the haste of setting out."
The second line, "tachi no sawaki ni," means "in the commotion of departure."
The third line, "aimiteshi," "we met," refers to their meeting at parting.
The fourth line, "imo ga kokoro wa," "my wife's heart," points to her grief at parting.
The closing line, "wasure senu kamo," "I cannot forget," ends in the exclamatory kamo.
- Author
- Hasetsukabe no Yoromaro
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Iekaze wa hinihi ni fukedo wagimoko ga iegoto mochite kuru hito mo nashi
- Next Poem
-
Yoso ni nomi mite ya wataramo Naniwagata kumoi ni miyuru shima naranaku ni