人妻に心あやなくかけはしの
危ふき道は恋にぞありける
危ふき道は恋にぞありける
- Roma-ji
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Hitozuma ni kokoro ayanaku kakehashi no ayauki michi wa koi ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
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On another's wife
I have hung my heart for no cause,
as on a hanging bridge—
so perilous a path,
this, I find, is love
- Meaning
- Without reason I have set my heart on another man's wife—that perilous path, like a bridge hung over a cliff, I now see, is love.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Love Poems II 688
Headnote: "He saw a carriage setting out from a house to view a procession and was drawn to its occupant; when he asked who she was, he was told she was the mistress of the house, so he sent this."
The poet says he has set his heart on another's wife without reason, and that the perilous path, like a hanging bridge, is love. He likens a love he cannot restrain, though he knows she is married, to a precarious bridge slung across a cliff.
According to the headnote, he saw a carriage leaving a house to view a spectacle and was drawn to it; when he asked who it was, he learned it was the wife of the master of the house, and sent this.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Hitozuma ni," means "upon another man's wife."
The second line, "kokoro ayanaku," means "my heart, without reason."
In the third line, "kake" is a pivot word joining "setting" one's heart and "hanging" a bridge.
The fourth line, "ayauki michi wa," means "the perilous path," with "michi" an associated word with the bridge.
The last line, "koi ni zo arikeru," means "was love," with "zo" an emphatic particle closing with the attributive "keru," a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Tayori ni mo aranu omoi no ayashiki wa kokoro o hito ni tsukuru narikeri
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Iwade omou kokoro ariso no hamakaze ni tatsu shiranami no yoru zo wabishiki