常磐にとたのめしことはまつほどの
久しかるべき名にこそありけれ
久しかるべき名にこそありけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Tokiwa ni to tanomeshi koto wa matsu hodo no hisashikarubeki na ni koso arikere
- English Translation
-
"Ever evergreen,"
so you made me trust in you,
but like the pine
it was only a name for
the long, long time I wait
- Meaning
- When you promised your love would be evergreen, it was only like the name of the pine—it meant the long, long time I would have to wait.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 816
Headnote: "Sent when someone she had been close to had not come for a long time."
The poet says that the promise of being evergreen was, in the end, a name for how long she must wait. With irony she protests that the vow of unchanging love, likened to the evergreen pine, really meant the length of time she would be kept waiting.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent because a person she had been intimate with had not come for a long while. 807 and 864 in this book also let the pine carry "to wait," singing of love spent waiting.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," indicating that the poem is anonymous.
The first line, "Tokiwa ni to," means "forever unchanging," quoting the words of a promise.
The second line, "tanomeshi koto wa," means "what you made me trust," "tanome" being the lower bigrade verb meaning to cause another to rely.
The third line, "matsu hodo no," means "like the pine," with "matsu" meaning both "pine" and "to wait," layering "the time of waiting."
The fourth line, "hisashikarubeki," means "that was to last so long."
The last line, "na ni koso arikere," means "was only a name," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective "kere."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Au koto no kata futagarite kimi kozu wa omou kokoro no tagau bakari zo
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Kosa masaru namida no iro mo kai zo naki misubeki hito no konoyo naraneba