かげろふのほのめきつれば夕暮の
夢かとのみぞ身をたどりつる
夢かとのみぞ身をたどりつる
- Roma-ji
-
Kagerō no honomekitsureba yūgure no yume ka to nomi zo mi o tadoritsuru
- English Translation
-
Like a shimmer of haze
you appeared so faintly to me
that in the evening dusk,
thinking it only a dream,
I groped to know if I was real
- Meaning
- You appeared to me as faintly as a shimmering haze, and thinking it must be an evening dream, I could only grope to know whether I was awake.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 856
Headnote: "Sent to a woman."
The poet says that because she appeared as faintly as a shimmering haze, he could only feel his way, wondering if it was an evening dream. Likening a woman he glimpsed only for a moment to fleeting haze, he sings of a heart bewildered between dream and waking.
According to the headnote, the poem was sent to a woman. The next poem, 857, is the reply, and the two form an exchange.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Kagerō no," means "like a shimmering haze," a figure for something faint and fleeting.
The second line, "honomekitsureba," means "since you appeared faintly." The next poem, 857, answers by opening with "honomite mo."
The third line, "yūgure no," means "of the evening dusk."
The fourth line, "yume ka to nomi zo," means "only as if a dream," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "mi o tadoritsuru," means "I felt my way to know myself," closing with the attributive "tsuru" in answer to "zo" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Onajiku wa kimi to narabi no ike ni koso mi o nagetsu tomo hito ni kikaseme
- Next Poem
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Honomite mo menarenikeri to kiku kara ni fushikaeri koso shinamahoshikere