うつつにもあらぬ心は夢なれや
見てもはかなきものを思へば
見てもはかなきものを思へば
- Roma-ji
-
Utsutsu ni mo aranu kokoro wa yume nare ya mite mo hakanaki mono o omoeba
- English Translation
-
A heart that feels
as though it were not waking—
is it then a dream?
Even when we meet, I find
my thoughts are fleeting still
- Meaning
- Is a heart that does not feel real a dream, then? For even when we meet, I am lost in fleeting longing.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 878
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet asks whether a heart that does not feel real is a dream, for even in meeting she is lost in fleeting longing. To one who says it did not feel real, she answers that she too feels such fleeting thoughts even as they meet, and wonders whether this itself is a dream.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 877, taking up its fourth and last lines, "utsutsu ni mo aranu kokochi," as "utsutsu ni mo aranu kokoro."
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Utsutsu ni mo," means "as waking life," taking up the fourth line of the preceding poem unchanged.
The second line, "aranu kokoro wa," means "a heart that does not feel so," replacing "kokochi" in the preceding poem with "kokoro."
The third line, "yume nare ya," means "is it a dream," with "ya" interrogative. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "mite mo hakanaki," means "fleeting even when we meet."
The last line, "mono o omoeba," means "since I am lost in longing," inverted with the third line to give the reason.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Madoromanu mono kara utate shikasuga ni utsutsu ni mo aranu kokochi nomi suru
- Next Poem
-
Kagiri naku omoi irihi no tomo ni nomi nishi no yamabe o nagameyaru kana