すみよしの我が身なりせば年経とも
松より外の色を見ましや
松より外の色を見ましや
- Roma-ji
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Sumiyoshi no waga mi nariseba toshi fu tomo matsu yori hoka no iro o mimashi ya
- English Translation
-
Were I Sumiyoshi,
a place where life was good,
though the years went by,
would I ever look upon
any color but the pine's
- Meaning
- Had I been in Sumiyoshi, where life is good, would I have looked at any color but the pine's, however many years went by?
- Commentary
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Book Nine Love Poems I 597
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet answers that had she been in Sumiyoshi, where life is good, she would never have looked at any color but the pine's, however many years went by. Reproached for not looking to the pine's color, she replies that it was he who made her life hard to live.
It is a reply to the preceding poem by Minamoto no Saneakira. It answers "tokiwa no matsu no iro" with "matsu yori hoka no iro."
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
In the first line, "Sumiyoshi" is a pivot word joining Sumiyoshi, famed for its pines, and "sumi yoshi," good to live in.
In the second line, "seba" sets a counterfactual condition: "had I been."
The third line, "toshi fu tomo," means "however many years went by."
The fourth line, "matsu yori hoka no," means "other than the pine's," taking up "tokiwa no matsu no" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
In the last line, "mashi" is a counterfactual auxiliary and "ya" is rhetorical: "would I have looked at that color? I would not."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Sadamenaku ada ni chirinuru hana yori wa tokiwa no matsu no iro o ya wa minu
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Utsutsu ni mo hakanaki koto no ayashiki wa ne naku ni yume no miyuru narikeri