なき名ぞと人には言ひてありぬべし
心の問はばいかが答へん
心の問はばいかが答へん
- Roma-ji
-
Nakina zo to hito ni wa iite arinu beshi kokoro no towaba ikaga kotaen
- English Translation
-
"It's only rumor,"
I could tell the world,
and so get by—
but if my own heart asks,
how then shall I answer
- Meaning
- I could tell people it is only a baseless rumor and get along that way. But if my own heart asks me, how am I to answer?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems III 725
Headnote: "When a man was secretly visiting a woman whose parents were living, and he too said that for a while they should keep it from others."
The poet says she could tell people it is only a baseless rumor, but how would she answer if her own heart asked? She voices the anguish of a secret love: others may be deceived, but one's own heart cannot.
According to the headnote, a man was secretly visiting a woman with living parents, and he said they should keep it from others for a while. The next poem, 726, also takes up a "false name," a baseless rumor, and the two poems follow one another.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. According to the headnote, it is probably the poem of the woman he was visiting.
The first line, "Nakina zo to," means "that it is a baseless rumor." It links with the same word in the headnote of the next poem, 726, "when a baseless rumor arose."
The second line, "hito ni wa iite," means "telling others."
The third line, "arinu beshi," means "I could get by," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "kokoro no towaba," means "if my heart should ask," setting "kokoro," the heart, against "hito," others, in the second line.
The last line, "ikaga kotaen," means "how shall I answer," with "n" expressing conjecture.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Kimi o omou kokoro o hito ni koyurugi no iso no tamamo ya ima mo karamashi
- Next Poem
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Kiyokeredo tama naranu mi no wabishiki wa migakeru mono ni iwanu narikeri