筑波嶺のさ百合の花の夜床にも
愛しけ妹ぞ昼も愛しけ
愛しけ妹ぞ昼も愛しけ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsukubane no sayuru no hana no yutoko ni mo kanashike imo zo hiru mo kanashike
- English Translation
-
On Tsukuba's peak
the lily flowers bloom fair;
in the bed at night
how dear she is, my sweet wife,
and in the daytime too, how dear
- Meaning
- Like the lilies blooming on Tsukuba's peak, my wife is dear to me in bed at night, and dear to me by day as well.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4369
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."
Like the lilies of Tsukuba's peak, my wife is dear in bed at night and dear by day as well: the poem states his love frankly. It is the seventh poem from Hitachi and with the next forms a pair by the same author. Drawing on the lilies of the mountain of home, it sings cheerfully of a love unchanged by night or day. Sayuru for sayuri, yutoko for yotoko, and kanashike for kanashiki are dialect forms.
The author, Ōtoneribe no Chifumi, is recorded as a regular guard from Naka District in Hitachi; nothing more is known of him.
The first line, "Tsukubane no," again names the mountain of home, as two poems before.
The second line, "sayuru no hana no," with the prefix sa, means lilies. The first two lines form a preface leading by the sound yu to yutoko.
The third line, "yutoko ni mo," means "in bed at night too."
The fourth line, "kanashike imo zo," with the emphatic zo: she is my beloved wife.
The closing line, "hiru mo kanashike," "dear by day as well," pairs with the third line's "at night," setting night and day side by side to declare his constant love.
- Author
- Ōtoneribe no Chifumi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Kujigawa wa sakeku arimate shiobune ni makaji shiji nuki wa wa kaerikomu
- Next Poem
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Arare furi Kashima no kami o inoritsutsu sumera mikusa ni ware wa kinishi o