逢はでのみあまたの夜をも帰るかな
人目の繁き逢坂に来て
人目の繁き逢坂に来て
- Roma-ji
-
Awade nomi amata no yo o mo kaeru kana hitome no shigeki ausaka ni kite
- English Translation
-
Never meeting you,
for many nights I've gone home,
turning back again,
though I came to Ausaka
where watching eyes are so thick
- Meaning
- Night after night I have gone home without meeting you, though I came as far as Ausaka, the Slope of Meeting, where watching eyes are so many.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 905
Headnote: "Sent after he had gone to a woman's house and come home without being able to meet her."
The poet says that night after night he has gone home without meeting her, though he came all the way to Ausaka where watching eyes are many. Having come to a slope whose name means meeting, he is kept from her by watchful eyes and must turn back, and the poem voices that frustration.
According to the headnote, he went to a woman's house, could not meet her, and sent this after returning. He likens her house to the Ausaka barrier and laments the many eyes as if they were its guards. Ausaka also appears in the sequence 981 to 984 in this book.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Awade nomi," means "always without meeting," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle.
The second line, "amata no yo o mo," means "on many nights."
The third line, "kaeru kana," means "I go home," and the poem pauses here, inverted with what follows.
The fourth line, "hitome no shigeki," means "where watching eyes are many," the strict watch kept around her.
The last line, "ausaka ni kite," means "having come to Ausaka," letting the name echo "au," to meet, and so sharpening the pain of not meeting.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Furiyameba ato dani mienu utakata no kiete hakanaki yo o tanomu kana
- Next Poem
-
Nabiku kata arikeru mono o nayotake no yo ni henu mono to omoikeru kana