秋風のうち吹きそむる夕暮れは
そらに心ぞわびしかりける
そらに心ぞわびしかりける
- Roma-ji
-
Akikaze no uchifukisomuru yūgure wa sora ni kokoro zo wabishikarikeru
- English Translation
-
The wind of autumn
has only just begun to blow,
and in the evening
somehow, as if in the sky,
my heart is filled with longing
- Meaning
- In the evening when the autumn wind first begins to blow, my heart grows desolate for no reason I can name.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems I 221
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that in the evening when the autumn wind first begins to blow, the heart grows desolate for no reason. It is nothing in particular that saddens, but the autumn evening itself that weighs the heart down.
After the preceding poems of one already burdened with cares, this poem sings of a loneliness of autumn felt for no reason at all.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Akikaze no," means "the autumn wind." Poems that open with the autumn wind continue later in this book, such as 250.
In the second line, "uchi" is a prefix and "somuru" is the attributive form of "somu," "to begin": "just beginning to blow."
The third line, "yūgure wa," means "in the evening," pointing to the hour when the loneliness of autumn is deepest.
In the fourth line, "sora ni" means "absently, for no reason," while also suggesting the evening sky. "Zo" is an emphatic particle.
The last line, "wabishikarikeru," means "how desolate it is," closing with the attributive "keru" in answer to "zo" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Itodoshiku mono omou yado no ogi no ha ni aki to tsugetsuru kaze no wabishisa
- Next Poem
-
Tsuyu wakeshi tamoto hosu ma mo naki mono o nado akikaze no madaki fukuran