ちはやぶる神にもあらぬわが仲の
雲居はるかになりもゆくかな
雲居はるかになりもゆくかな
- Roma-ji
-
Chihayaburu kami ni mo aranu waga naka no kumoi haruka ni nari mo yuku kana
- English Translation
-
Though we are not gods
mighty and swift, the bond
between you and me
has drifted far away
as the clouds of heaven
- Meaning
- Though we are not gods, the bond between us has drifted as far away as the clouds of heaven.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1025
Headnote: "Said by a woman who had come to dislike a man, though she must have felt something after all."
The poet laments that the bond between them, who are not gods, is drifting as far off as the clouds. As the gods are remote beings above the clouds, so she grieves that even the bond of two mortals is growing distant.
According to the headnote, a woman who had come to dislike a man sent this, perhaps feeling something for him after all, and his reply is placed in the next poem, 1026. 998 in this book also uses "kumoi" for a distant beloved.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Chihayaburu," is a pillow word for "kami," gods. The next poem opens with the same pillow word.
The second line, "kami ni mo aranu," means "though not gods," setting the gods who dwell above the clouds against the two mortals.
The third line, "waga naka no," means "our bond."
The fourth line, "kumoi haruka ni," means "as far as the clouds," overlaying the distance of the heavens where gods dwell with the gulf between them. "Onore kumoi ni" in the fourth line of the next poem takes it up.
The last line, "nari mo yuku kana," means "how it goes on becoming," with "kana" a final particle of exclamation. It is the same phrase as the second line of 1040 in this book.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Sugawara ya fushimi no sato no areshi yori kayoishi hito no ato mo taeniki
- Next Poem
-
Chihayaburu kami ni mo nani ni tatouran onore kumoi ni hito o nashitsutsu