おほかたも秋はわびしき時なれど
露けかるらん袖をしぞ思ふ
露けかるらん袖をしぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
-
Ōkata mo aki wa wabishiki toki naredo tsuyukekaruran sode o shi zo omou
- English Translation
-
Autumn as a rule
is a season desolate,
and yet it is
your sleeves, surely wet with dew,
that are in my thoughts
- Meaning
- Autumn is a desolate season for everyone, yet it is your sleeves, surely damp with dew, that I think of.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Autumn Poems II 278
Headnote: "The emperor's reply."
He replies that autumn is a desolate season for everyone, yet it is her sleeves, surely wet with tears, that he thinks of above all. The emperor tenderly consoles the Lady of the Wardrobe in her grief for her mother.
It forms an exchange with the preceding poem, 277.
The poet, given as "a poem by the Engi emperor," is Emperor Daigo. The first son of Emperor Uda, he reigned in an age praised as the Engi rule, and commanded Ki no Tsurayuki and others to compile the Kokin Wakashū.
The first line, "Ōkata mo," means "in general, for everyone."
The second line, "aki wa wabishiki," means "autumn is desolate," taking up "aki no wabishisa," the last line of the preceding poem.
In the third line, "do" gives a definite concession: "though it is such a season."
In the fourth line, "ran" is the auxiliary of present conjecture: "which must be wet with the dew of tears." It takes up "tsuyu okisouru" in the preceding poem.
In the last line, "shi" is an intensive particle, and the particle "zo" with the attributive "omou" forms a kakarimusubi pattern: "it is your sleeves I think of."
- Author
- Emperor Daigo
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Samidare ni nurenishi sode ni itodoshiku tsuyu okisouru aki no wabishisa
- Next Poem
-
Shiratsuyu no kawaru mo nani ka oshikaran arite no nochi mo yaya uki mono o