いにしへの心はなくや成りにけん
頼めしことの絶えて年ふる
頼めしことの絶えて年ふる
- Roma-ji
-
Inishie no kokoro wa naku ya nariniken tanomeshi koto no taete toshi furu
- English Translation
-
The heart of old days,
has it vanished altogether?
The word you gave me,
that I might trust in, has broken
and the years go by
- Meaning
- Has the heart you had in the old days vanished altogether? The promise you gave me to trust in has broken off, and the years go by.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1003
Headnote: "Composed when a man had long failed to visit."
The poet asks whether his heart of old has vanished, since the promise he gave her to trust in has broken off and years have passed. She laments the long silence, wondering whether the sincerity he showed when they made their promises has been lost.
According to the headnote, it was sent when the man had long failed to visit, and his reply is placed in the next poem, 1004. Carrying on the "tanome" and "tae" of the preceding exchange, it stretches the break out into years.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Inishie no," means "of old," corresponding to "inishie mo" in the first line of the next poem.
The second line, "kokoro wa naku ya," means "has the heart vanished," with "ya" an interrogative binding particle.
The third line, "nariniken," means "has it come to be so," closing the "ya" of the second line with the attributive "ken." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "tanomeshi koto no," means "the promise you gave me to trust," using the lower bigrade "tanomu" as in "tanomekuru" in the preceding poem, 1002.
The last line, "taete toshi furu," means "broken off, the years go by," taken up by "toshi o nomi furu" in the last line of the next poem.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tamakazura tanomekuru hi no kazu wa aredo taedae nite wa kai nakarikeri
- Next Poem
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Inishie mo ima mo kokoro no nakereba zo uki o mo shirade toshi o nomi furu