ほの見ても目馴れにけりと聞くからに
臥しかへりこそ死なまほしけれ
臥しかへりこそ死なまほしけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Honomite mo menarenikeri to kiku kara ni fushikaeri koso shinamahoshikere
- English Translation
-
Though you glimpsed me faintly,
"I'm already used to you,"
no sooner heard
than I would writhe upon the floor
and wish that I could die
- Meaning
- As soon as I heard you say that even a faint glimpse had made you tire of me, I wanted to throw myself down, writhe, and die.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 857
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that on hearing that even a faint glimpse had made him used to her, she would like to writhe on the ground and die. Taking the man's word that he is already used to her after a mere glimpse to mean that he has tired of her, she retorts with exaggerated lament.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 856, answering its "honomeki" with "honomite mo."
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Honomite mo," means "though you saw me only faintly," taking up "honomekitsureba" in the preceding poem.
The second line, "menarenikeri to," means "that you have grown used to me," reading into it the sense of being tired of her.
The third line, "kiku kara ni," means "as soon as I hear."
The fourth line, "fushikaeri koso," means "writhing on the ground," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "shinamahoshikere," means "I want to die," with "mahoshi" expressing a wish and closing in the perfective in answer to "koso" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kagerō no honomekitsureba yūgure no yume ka to nomi zo mi o tadoritsuru
- Next Poem
-
Aumi chō kata no shirube mo eteshi kana mirume naki koto yukite uramin