かく恋ふるものと知りせば夜はおきて
明くれば消ゆる露ならましを
明くれば消ゆる露ならましを
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku kouru mono to shiriseba yoru wa okite akureba kiyuru tsuyu naramashi o
- English Translation
-
Had I only known
that love would be like this,
by night I'd settle,
and at dawn I'd fade away—
would I had been the dew
- Meaning
- Had I known that love would be like this, I would rather have been the dew—awake and settling through the night, and vanishing at dawn.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 581
Headnote: "Sent to someone."
The poet says that had he known love would be like this, he would rather have been the dew, awake and settling through the night and vanishing at dawn. In the pain of not meeting, he wishes he could simply vanish like dew.
The nature of dew, which settles at night and vanishes by morning, is overlaid with lying awake all night in the torment of love and wishing to fade away by dawn.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Kaku kouru," means "loving like this."
In the second line, "seba" sets a counterfactual condition: "had I known it to be so."
The third line, "yoru wa okite," has an extra syllable, and "oki" is a pivot word meaning both a person "staying awake" and dew "settling."
The fourth line, "akureba kiyuru," means "that vanishes when dawn comes," with "kiyu," to vanish, an associated word with dew.
In the last line, "mashi" is a counterfactual auxiliary: "would that I had been the dew."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Iro ni idete koisu chō na zo tachinubeki namida ni somuru sode no kokereba
- Next Poem
-
Ai mo mizu nageki mo somezu arishi toki omou koto koso mi ni nakarishika