降る雪にもの思ふわが身劣らめや
積もり積もりて消えぬばかりぞ
積もり積もりて消えぬばかりぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Furu yuki ni mono omou waga mi otorame ya tsumoritsumorite kienu bakari zo
- English Translation
-
To the falling snow
am I, brooding in longing,
any less?
Piling up and piling up,
I am all but melting away
- Meaning
- Am I, who brood in longing, any less than the falling snow? My thoughts have piled and piled, and I am all but ready to melt away.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Winter Poems 495
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet asks whether one who broods in longing could be any less than the falling snow, for thoughts have piled and piled until one is all but melting away. In the snow that piles and melts, the poem overlays the pain of a love whose thoughts pile up until one nearly vanishes.
Like 485 in this book, which sang of one who gazes on the snow and melts away in brooding, it overlays the snow's "piling up" and "melting" with the thoughts of love.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Furu yuki ni," means "compared with the falling snow."
The second line, "mono omou waga mi," means "I who brood in love."
In the third line, "ya" is rhetorical: "would I be any less? I would not." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "tsumoritsumorite," means "piling and piling up," overlaying snow piling up with thoughts piling up.
The last line, "kienu bakari zo," means "I am all but melting away," with "kie," to melt, an associated word with snow.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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