日を経ても影に見ゆるは玉かづら
つらきながらも絶えぬなりけり
つらきながらも絶えぬなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Hi o hete mo kage ni miyuru wa tamakazura tsuraki nagara mo taenu narikeri
- English Translation
-
Though days go by,
your image still appears—
like the jeweled vine,
unkind as you are to me,
my love is never broken
- Meaning
- Though the days go by, your image still appears before me; like a trailing vine that never breaks, my love goes on despite your coldness.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 833
Headnote: "When someone she knew came to see her only rarely."
The poet says that his image still appears to her after days go by, because like a jeweled vine her love does not break, unkind as he is. Though she resents one who visits so seldom, she looks at a heart of her own that still cannot let go.
According to the headnote, the poem was composed when a person she was intimate with came only rarely. 805 in this book likewise seeks the beloved's form in a "kage," a reflected image.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, and received Uda's favor. Later she bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "Hi o hete mo," means "even as the days pass."
The second line, "kage ni miyuru wa," means "what appears as an image." It shares with "kage ni dani," the first line of 805 in this book, the conceit of seeing the beloved in an image.
The third line, "tamakazura," a graceful name for trailing vines, leads through the sound of "tsura," vine, into "tsuraki" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "tsuraki nagara mo," means "unkind though you are."
The last line, "taenu narikeri," means "it is never broken," layering the unbroken vine with unbroken love. "Tae" is a word associated with "tamakazura."
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Sumizome no kurama no yama ni iru hito wa tadoru tadoru mo kaeri kinanan
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Takasago no matsu o midori to mishi koto wa shita no momiji o shiranu narikeri