淵ながら人通はさじ涙川
渡らば浅き瀬をもこそ見れ
渡らば浅き瀬をもこそ見れ
- Roma-ji
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Fuchi nagara hito kayowasaji namidagawa wataraba asaki se o mo koso mire
- English Translation
-
Let them stay deep pools,
let no one cross over them,
your river of tears—
if you crossed, I fear I'd find
nothing but the shallows there
- Meaning
- Let your river of tears stay deep pools, and let no one cross it. If you were to cross, I might find only shallows—a shallow heart.
- Commentary
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Book Thirteen Love Poems V 947
Headnote: "Reply."
The woman says the river of tears should stay deep pools and let no one cross, for if he crossed she might find only shallows. Taking up his river of tears, she sidesteps his suit by saying that if he crossed it, the shallowness of his heart might be revealed.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 946. Taking up pool, river of tears and shallows just as they are, she answers the man who seeks a place to cross by saying that crossing would reveal shallows, reversing deep and shallow.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Fuchi nagara," means "remaining deep pools," taking up "fuchi" in the preceding poem.
The second line, "hito kayowasaji," means "let no one cross," with "ji" a negative auxiliary of intention. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "namidagawa," means "river of tears," the same word as the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "wataraba asaki," means "if you crossed, shallow," with "ba" marking a supposition.
The last line, "se o mo koso mire," means "I might see the shallows," with "mo koso" expressing fear of a bad outcome and closed by the realis "mire." It takes up "se" in the preceding poem to mean a shallow heart.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Seki mo aezu fuchi ni zo mayou namidagawa wataru chō se o shiru yoshi mogana
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Kite kaeru na o nomi zo tatsu karakoromo shita yuu himo no kokoro tokeneba