思へどもあやなしとのみ言はるれば
夜の錦の心地こそすれ
夜の錦の心地こそすれ
- Roma-ji
-
Omoedomo ayanashi to nomi iwarureba yoru no nishiki no kokochi koso sure
- English Translation
-
Though I love you,
all I hear is that it is
without pattern or sense—
like a brocade worn at night
is how my heart now feels
- Meaning
- Though I love you, I am told only that it makes no sense, and so I feel like brocade worn in the dark of night, seen by no one.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Love Poems II 623
Headnote: "Sent to a man."
The poet says that though she loves him, she is told only that it makes no sense, and so she feels like brocade worn at night. She likens the futility of a love that is not received to brocade that no one can see in the dark.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a man. "Brocade at night" comes from a saying in the Records of the Grand Historian that to grow rich and not return home is like walking at night in brocade, and it also appears in a poem by Ki no Tsurayuki in the Kokin Wakashū.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Omoedomo," means "though I love you."
In the second line, "ayanashi" means "it makes no sense," while "aya" suggests the pattern of brocade, an associated word with "nishiki" in the fourth line.
The third line, "iwarureba," means "since I am told."
The fourth line, "yoru no nishiki no," means "of brocade worn at night," a figure for something unseen and therefore futile.
The last line, "kokochi koso sure," means "so I feel," with "koso" emphatic and closing with the perfective "sure," a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yomosugara nurete wabitsuru karakoromo Ausakayama ni michimadoi shite
- Next Poem
-
Oto ni nomi kikikoshi Miwa no yama yori mo sugi no kazu o ba ware zo mienishi