涙川いかなる瀬より帰りけん
見馴るるみをもあやしかりしを
見馴るるみをもあやしかりしを
- Roma-ji
-
Namidagawa ika naru se yori kaeriken minaruru mio mo ayashikarishi o
- English Translation
-
This river of tears—
by what shallow ford, I wonder,
did you make your way home,
when even the channel you knew
seemed so strange to me
- Meaning
- By what ford in the river of tears did you go home, I wonder, when even the familiar channel—even you, whom I know so well—seemed strange to me?
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems IV 889
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet wonders from what ford in the river of tears he went home, when even the familiar channel seemed strange. To a man lamenting that he cannot find the ford, she answers as if doubting his heart: even he, whom she knows so well, had seemed suspicious to her.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 888, answering its "namidagawa" and "asase" with "namidagawa" and "se."
The poet, Taifu, was a lady-in-waiting whose origins are not clear. She is known for exchanging love poems with Ono no Michikaze, Fujiwara no Asatada, Fujiwara no Atsutada, and others.
The first line, "Namidagawa," means "of the river of tears," taking up the third line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "ika naru se yori," means "by what ford," taking up "asase" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "kaeriken," means "did you return," with "ken" a past conjecture. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "minaruru mio mo," means "even the familiar channel," with "mio" joining "mio," a waterway for boats, and "mi o," your person, layering "even you, whom I know so well."
The last line, "ayashikarishi o," means "seemed strange, and yet," with "o" adversative, leaving a lingering resonance.
- Author
- Taifu
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Kaerubeki kata mo oboezu namidagawa izure ka wataru asase naruran
- Next Poem
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Ikemizu no iiizuru koto no katakereba migomori nagara toshi zo henikeru