天の河水まさるらし夏の夜は
流るる月の淀む間もなし
流るる月の淀む間もなし
- Roma-ji
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Ama no kawa mizu masarurashi natsu no yo wa nagaruru tsuki no yodomu ma mo nashi
- English Translation
-
The River of Heaven,
its waters must be rising now,
for on a summer night
the moon flows along so swiftly
never pausing in its course
- Meaning
- The waters of the River of Heaven must be rising, for on a summer night the moon flows on without a moment's pause.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 210
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Because on a summer night the moon flows on without pause, the waters of the River of Heaven must be rising. Likening the moon's swift passage across the sky to something carried along the River of Heaven, the poem conveys the fleetingness of the short night.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.
The first line, "Ama no kawa," names the River of Heaven in the night sky. Together with the magpie of 207 and the river shore of heaven in 216, the last poem of the book, it forms a sequence leading toward Tanabata.
The second line, "mizu masarurashi," means "its waters must be rising," with "rashi" expressing an inference from evidence. It takes as evidence the moon's swift flow in the lower verses, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "natsu no yo wa," means "on the short summer night."
The fourth line, "nagaruru tsuki no," means "of the flowing moon," likening the moon moving across the sky to something carried down the River of Heaven. It echoes "natsu no yo wataru tsuki" in 207 of this book.
The last line, "yodomu ma mo nashi," means "there is no moment it lingers," with "yodomu," to stagnate, a word related to the river.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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