秋風の吹くにつけても訪はぬかな
荻の葉ならば音はしてまし
荻の葉ならば音はしてまし
- Roma-ji
-
Akikaze no fuku ni tsukete mo towanu kana ogi no ha naraba oto wa shitemashi
- English Translation
-
Though the autumn wind
comes blowing, even so
you never call—
were you but a reed's leaf,
you'd at least have made a sound
- Meaning
- Even with the autumn wind blowing, you do not come to see me. If you were a leaf of the reed, you would at least have rustled in the wind.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 846
Headnote: "Sent when Taira no Kaneki had gradually come to visit less and less."
The poet says that even with the autumn wind blowing he does not come, though a reed leaf would at least make a sound. Comparing him with reed leaves that rustle in the wind, she resents a man so cold that he sends not even a word.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent when Taira no Kaneki was gradually drifting away. It closes the sequence of autumn images that began with 840 in this book, its opening "akikaze no" echoing "aki no kaze kana," the last line of that first poem, 840.
The poet, Nakatsukasa, was the daughter born to Prince Atsuyoshi, a son of Emperor Uda, and Ise. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "Akikaze no," means "the autumn wind," answering "aki no kaze kana," the last line of 840, which opens the autumn sequence.
The second line, "fuku ni tsukete mo," means "even as it blows."
The third line, "towanu kana," means "you do not come," with "kana" expressing emotion. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "ogi no ha naraba," means "if you were a reed leaf," invoking reed leaves that rustle in the wind.
The last line, "oto wa shitemashi," means "you would at least make a sound," with "mashi" counterfactual. "Oto," sound, also carries the sense of word or news.
- Author
- Nakatsukasa
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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-
Aki no ta no karisome fushi mo shitekeru ka itazura ine o nani ni tsumamashi
- Next Poem
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Kimi mizute ikuyo henuran toshitsuki no furu to tomo ni mo otsuru namida ka