白玉の秋の木の葉に宿れると
見ゆるは露のはかるなりけり
見ゆるは露のはかるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Shiratama no aki no ko no ha ni yadoreru to miyuru wa tsuyu no hakaru narikeri
- English Translation
-
That white jewels seem
to lodge upon the autumn
leaves of the trees,
is nothing but a trick
the dew has played on me
- Meaning
- That white jewels seem to be lodged on the autumn leaves is only a trick the dew has played.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Autumn Poems II 311
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that what looks like white jewels lodged on the autumn leaves turns out to be a trick the dew was plotting. It is a witty poem blaming the dew's scheming for mistaking dew for jewels.
Following the preceding poem on the color of dew, this poem again likens dew to jewels.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."
The first line, "Shiratama no," means "white jewels." 270, the closing poem of Book Five, also sings of "shiratama."
The second line, "aki no ko no ha ni," means "on the autumn leaves of the trees." While most of the white dew poems in this book sing of grass, this poem sings of tree leaves.
In the third line, "ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri": "that they are lodged there."
The fourth line, "miyuru wa tsuyu no," means "what appears so is the dew's."
In the last line, "hakaru" means "to scheme, to deceive," and "keri" is a sigh of realization: "it was the dew's trick."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Oku kara ni chigusa no iro ni naru mono o shiratsuyu to nomi hito no iuran
- Next Poem
-
Aki no no ni oku shiratsuyu no kiezaraba tama ni nukite mo kakete mitemashi