思ふてふ言の葉いかになつかしな
後憂きものと思はずもがな
後憂きものと思はずもがな
- Roma-ji
-
Omou chō koto no ha ika ni natsukashi na nochi uki mono to omowazu mogana
- English Translation
-
Those words, "I love you"—
oh, how dear they are to me!
If only I could
hear them without the thought
that later they will bring pain
- Meaning
- How dear they are to me, those words, "I love you." If only I could hear them without thinking that one day they will bring me pain.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 919
Headnote: "Sent in reply to a man."
The poet says how dear the words "I love you" are, and wishes she need not think they will one day bring pain. Drawn to the man's words of love, she cannot shake off the fear that she will someday be betrayed.
According to the headnote, it was sent in reply to a man's letter. The next poem, 920, also begins "Omou chō," so the two form a pair, one treating the same words as dear, the other as painful.
The poet, Toshiko, was a woman poet of the time of the Gosenshu, and little more is known of her life.
The first line, "Omou chō," means "that say 'I love you,'" with "chō" a contraction of "to iu." It is the same first line as the next poem.
The second line, "koto no ha ika ni," means "how those words."
The third line, "natsukashi na," means "are dear to me," with "na" an exclamatory final particle. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "nochi uki mono to," means "as something painful later."
The last line, "omowazu mogana," means "if only I need not think," with "mogana" a final particle of desire.
- Author
- Toshiko
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kimi ga atari kumoi ni mitsutsu miyajiyama uchikoe yukamu michi mo shiranaku
- Next Poem
-
Omou chō koto koso ukere kuretake no yo ni furu hito no iwanu nakereba