人はかる心の隈はきたなくて
清き渚をいかで過ぎけん
清き渚をいかで過ぎけん
- Roma-ji
-
Hito hakaru kokoro no kuma wa kitanakute kiyoki nagisa o ikade sugiken
- English Translation
-
Your deceiving heart,
in its hidden corners soiled,
filthy as it is—
how did you ever pass by
those pure shores of the sea
- Meaning
- With the hidden corners of your heart so soiled by deceit, how could you ever have passed along those pure shores of Ise?
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 944
Headnote: "Composed when the man she had been secretly seeing, after promising he would soon return, went to Ise on official business, came back, and then did not visit her for a long time."
The poet asks how a man whose heart is soiled in its hidden depths by deceit could have passed along those pure shores. Setting the clean shores of sacred Ise against the soiled heart of a man who broke his promise, she reproaches him sharply.
According to the headnote, a man she had been secretly seeing went to the province of Ise as an official envoy after promising to return soon, and even after coming back he did not visit her for a long time. The next poem, 945, is Fujiwara no Kanesuke's reply, answering through his lodgings on the shores of Ise.
The poet, Shosho no Naishi, was a palace attendant, and little more is known of her life.
The first line, "Hito hakaru," means "deceiving others," "hakaru" meaning to scheme.
The second line, "kokoro no kuma wa," means "the hidden corners of the heart."
The third line, "kitanakute," means "being soiled," set against "kiyoki," pure, in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "kiyoki nagisa o," means "the pure shore," the beaches of sacred Ise.
The last line, "ikade sugiken," means "how did you pass," with "ken," a form of "kemu," guessing at a cause in the past.
- Author
- Shosho no Naishi
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Hitogoto no tanomigatasa wa naniwa naru ashi no uraba no uramitsubeshi na
- Next Poem
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Ta ga tame ni ware ga inochi o nagahama no ura ni yadori o shitsutsu ka wa koshi