いつのまに恋しかるらん唐衣
濡れにし袖のひるまばかりに
濡れにし袖のひるまばかりに
- Roma-ji
-
Itsu no ma ni koishikaruran karakoromo nurenishi sode no hiruma bakari ni
- English Translation
-
How did it happen
that I long for you so soon?
My Chinese robe,
its sleeves wet with tears, has had
but the daytime hours to dry
- Meaning
- When did I come to long for you like this? Only the daytime hours have passed, scarcely time for my tear-soaked sleeves to dry.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems III 729
Headnote: "On returning at dawn from a lover's house."
The poet wonders when he came to long for her so, in only the daytime it takes for wet sleeves to dry. He voices how, though little time has passed since parting at dawn, he already longs for her unbearably.
According to the headnote, the poem was composed on coming home at dawn from a lover's house. The next poem, 730, shares the same headnote, and two poems of the morning after stand side by side.
The poet, called "the Kan'in Minister of the Left," was Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu. A son of Fujiwara no Uchimaro, he rose to Minister of the Left. So called because his residence was the Kan'in, he laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Northern House of the Fujiwara.
The first line, "Itsu no ma ni," means "when."
The second line, "koishikaruran," means "did I come to long for you," with "ran" conjecturing a cause. The poem pauses here, in inverted order with the lines that follow.
The third line, "karakoromo," is a fine Chinese-style robe, leading into "sode," sleeve, in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "nurenishi sode no," means "of my sleeves, wet with tears."
In the last line, "hiruma bakari ni," "hiruma" is a pivot word meaning both "the time for sleeves to dry" and "daytime," the short span between parting at dawn and midday.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Aimite mo wakaruru koto no nakariseba katsugatsu mono wa omowazaramashi
- Next Poem
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Wakaretsuru hodo mo henaku ni shiranami no tachikaerite mo mimaku hoshiki ka