Tou koto no aki shimo mare ni kikoyuru wa kari ni ya ware o hito no tanomeshi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

問ふことの秋しもまれに聞こゆるは
かりにや我を人のたのめし

Roma-ji: Tou koto no aki shimo mare ni kikoyuru wa kari ni ya ware o hito no tanomeshi
English Translation: That your visits come
so rarely, and in autumn,
is it that you made
me trust you only briefly,
like the geese that come and go
Meaning: That your visits reach me so rarely, and in autumn of all times—is it because you made me trust you only for a while, like the passing geese?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 426

Headnote: "When a man who had drifted away came to visit in autumn."
She says that his visits come only rarely, and in autumn of all times, and asks whether he made her trust him only for a while. She reproaches the faithlessness of a man who visits as seldom as the geese that pass only in autumn.
According to the headnote, it was composed when a man whose relationship with her had ended came to visit in autumn. "Aki," autumn, echoes "aki," weariness of love, and "kari" echoes the geese, ironically marking the chance visit of a man whose heart has changed.
The poet, called "Akoki of the former Shōkyōden," was a lady-in-waiting who served a consort once living in the Shōkyōden. Little is known of her.

The first line, "Tou koto no," means "your visiting."
In the second line, "shimo" is an emphatic particle: "in autumn of all times, rarely." "Aki," autumn, echoes "aki," to tire of someone. 428 of this book also places "aki shimo" in its second line.
The third line, "kikoyuru wa," means "that it reaches my ears."
In the fourth line, "kari" is a pivot word meaning both "kari," temporary, and "kari," the wild geese that come in autumn. "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
In the last line, "tanomu," here in its lower bigrade conjugation, means to make someone trust. "Shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," forming a kakarimusubi pattern with "ya" in the fourth line: "did you make me trust you?"
Author: Akoki of the Shōkyōden
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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