絶え果つるものとは見つつささがにの
糸を頼める心細さよ
糸を頼める心細さよ
- Roma-ji
-
Taehatsuru mono to wa mitsutsu sasagani no ito o tanomeru kokorobososa yo
- English Translation
-
That it must snap
in the end, I see quite well,
yet to the spider's
slender thread I cling in hope—
how forlorn my heart
- Meaning
- Though I can see it will snap in the end, I rely on a thread as frail as a spider's—how forlorn I feel.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 569
Headnote: "To a man who had been cruel."
The poet sings of the forlornness of relying on a bond as frail as a spider's thread, though she knows it will snap. She likens her fraying tie with a man grown cold to a fragile spider's thread.
According to the headnote, she sent it to a man who had become cruel. The next poem is the man's reply, and the two form a pair of exchanged poems. It also draws on the belief that a spider spinning its web foretells a lover's visit.
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, "Taehatsuru," means "breaking off entirely," with "tae," to break, an associated word with "ito," thread, in the fourth line. "Koto wa taeseji" in the last line of the next poem takes this up.
The second line, "mono to wa mitsutsu," means "though I see that it is so."
The third line, "sasagani no," means "of the spider," used as a pillow word leading to "ito," thread.
The fourth line, "ito o tanomeru," means "relying on the spider's thread," referring to clinging to a slender bond.
The last line, "kokorobososa yo," means "how forlorn," closing with a noun. "Hososa," slenderness, is an associated word with the thread.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yoso ni furu ame to koso kike obotsukana nani o ka hito no koiji to iuran
- Next Poem
-
Uchiwatashi nagaki kokoro wa Yatsuhashi no kumode ni omou koto wa taeseji