うたた寝の夢ばかりなる逢ふことを
秋の夜すがら思ひつるかな
秋の夜すがら思ひつるかな
- Roma-ji
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Utatane no yume bakari naru au koto o aki no yosugara omoitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Brief as a dream seen
in a moment's idle doze,
that meeting of ours—
all through the long autumn night
I have thought of nothing else
- Meaning
- All through the long autumn night I have dwelt on our meeting, though it was as brief as a dream in a moment's doze.
- Commentary
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Book Thirteen Love Poems V 898
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet has spent the whole autumn night dwelling on a meeting as fleeting as a dream in a doze. Setting the brief meeting against the long autumn night, she conveys the depth of a love that turns over a single moment all night long.
Within one poem, the brevity of the meeting and the length of the hours spent thinking of it measure the same love on two scales. Following 897, it is another poem drawing on autumn imagery.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Utatane no," means "of a doze," the slightest of sleeps.
The second line, "yume bakari naru," means "no more than a dream," a figure for how brief and fleeting the meeting was.
The third line, "au koto o," means "our meeting."
The fourth line, "aki no yosugara," means "all through the long autumn night," contrasting with the brief dream of the second line.
The last line, "omoitsuru kana," means "I have thought of it," with "kana" an exclamatory final particle.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Itsu made no hakanaki hito no koto no ha ka kokoro no aki no kaze o matsuramu
- Next Poem
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Aki no yo no kusa no tozashi no wabishiki wa akuredo akenu mono ni zo arikeru