恋しくは影をだに見て慰めよ
我がうちとけて忍ぶ顔なり
我がうちとけて忍ぶ顔なり
- Roma-ji
-
Koishiku wa kage o dani mite nagusameyo waga uchitokete shinobu kao nari
- English Translation
-
If you long for me,
then look at least on this form
and console your heart—
for here is my face at ease,
thinking fondly of you
- Meaning
- If you miss me, then console yourself at least by looking at this likeness. This is my face as I relax and think fondly of you.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 909
Headnote: "Sent with a picture of a demon she had drawn, when someone wrote to Ichijo saying she missed her very much."
The poet tells her friend to console herself at least with this likeness if she misses her, saying it is her own face as she relaxes and thinks fondly of her. In a playful conceit, she sends a picture of a demon as her own face, answering the words of longing with a joke.
According to the headnote, when someone wrote to Ichijo saying she missed her very much, Ichijo drew a demon and sent it with this poem. The next poem, 910, is Ise's reply, showing that it was Ise who wrote of her longing. The two poems share the word "kage," likeness, to form an exchange.
The poet, Ichijo, was a lady-in-waiting who exchanged poems with Ise, and little more is known of her life.
The first line, "Koishiku wa," means "if you miss me."
The second line, "kage o dani mite," means "looking at least at this likeness," "kage" meaning a form, here a drawn picture. "Dani" is an adverbial particle marking the least that might serve.
The third line, "nagusameyo," means "console yourself," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "waga uchitokete," means "I, at my ease," a jest that passes off the demon as her own relaxed face.
The last line, "shinobu kao nari," means "is the face that thinks fondly of you," with "nari" the assertive auxiliary.
- Author
- Ichijo
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ise no ama to kimi shi narinaba onajiku wa koishiki hodo ni mirume karaseyo
- Next Poem
-
Kage mireba itodo kokoro zo madowaruru chikakaranu ke no utoki narikeri