わがごとく物思ひけらし白露の
夜をいたづらにおき明かしつつ
夜をいたづらにおき明かしつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Waga gotoku mono omoikerashi shiratsuyu no yo o itazura ni okiakashitsutsu
- English Translation
-
Like me, it would seem,
it has been lost in brooding,
this silver dew,
lying awake all the night
to no purpose until dawn
- Meaning
- Like me, it seems, the white dew has been lost in brooding, lying awake through the night in vain until dawn.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Autumn Poems III 424
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the white dew must have been brooding just as the poet does, for it lies all night in vain until dawn. One who passes the night sleepless is overlaid with the dew that lies on the grass all night.
Like 290 in Book Six, "aki no yo o itazura ni nomi oki akasu," it overlays one who stays up all night with the dew. Following the preceding poem of brooding, it too sings of brooding.
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, "Waga gotoku," means "just like me."
In the second line, "kerashi" expresses past inference: "it seems to have been brooding." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "shiratsuyu no," means "the white dew."
The fourth line, "yo o itazura ni," means "through the night in vain."
In the last line, "oki" is a pivot word meaning both the dew's "lying" and a person's "staying up." "Tsutsu" shows continuation: "lying awake through the night." It stands in inversion with the first two lines.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ōkata no aki no sora dani wabishiki ni mono omoi souru kimi ni mo aru kana
- Next Poem
-
Aki fukami yoso ni nomi kiku shiratsuyu no ta ga koto no ha ni kakaru naruran