白雪の積もる思ひも頼まれず
春より後はあらじと思へば
春より後はあらじと思へば
- Roma-ji
-
Shirayuki no tsumoru omoi mo tanomarezu haru yori nochi wa araji to omoeba
- English Translation
-
Like the white snow, piled—
your longing too, I cannot
put my trust in it,
for once the spring has come
I think it will be no more
- Meaning
- I cannot trust your longing, though it piles up like white snow, for I think that once spring comes it will be gone.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1071
Headnote: "Reply."
The reply says she cannot trust a longing that piles up like white snow, since she thinks it will be gone after spring. Taking up "shirayuki no tsumoreru omoi" from the preceding poem, she doubts that his feeling will last, any more than snow survives the spring.
According to the headnote, it is the woman's reply to the preceding poem, 1070. Where he likened the depth of his longing to how quickly snow piles up, she turns to how easily snow melts, treating the same snow from the opposite side to answer him.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Shirayuki no," means "like the white snow," taking up the first line of the preceding poem as it stands.
The second line, "tsumoru omoi mo," means "the longing that piles up," taking up "tsumoreru omoi" in the second and third lines of the preceding poem.
The third line, "tanomarezu," means "I cannot rely on it," with "re" an auxiliary of possibility. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "haru yori nochi wa," means "after spring," resting on the way snow melts away in spring.
The last line, "araji to omoeba," means "since I think it will not remain," with "ji" a negative auxiliary of conjecture. It turns back to the third line by inversion.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Shirayuki no kesa wa tsumoreru omoi kana awade furu yo no hodo mo henaku ni
- Next Poem
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Waga koishi kimi ga atari o hanareneba furu shirayuki mo sora ni kiyuran