限りなき思ひの綱のなくはこそ
まさきのかづら縒りも悩まめ
まさきのかづら縒りも悩まめ
- Roma-ji
-
Kagiri naki omoi no tsuna no naku wa koso masaki no kazura yori mo nayamame
- English Translation
-
Were there not
this boundless rope of longing,
then indeed you'd strain
to twist the masaki vine
and bind me as you wish
- Meaning
- Were there not already this boundless rope of longing, then indeed you might struggle to twist the masaki vine—but I am bound to you already.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1082
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that were there not a boundless rope of longing, his host might indeed struggle to twist the masaki vine. Taking up the conceit of twisting moonlight into rope, he answers that his endless feeling for his host already binds him, so there is no need to twist a rope at all.
It is Yukihira's reply to Minamoto no Tōru's poem before it.
The poet, Ariwara no Yukihira, was a son of Prince Abo, son of Emperor Heizei, and an elder half-brother of Ariwara no Narihira. He rose to Middle Counselor.
The first line, "Kagiri naki," means "boundless."
The second line, "omoi no tsuna no," means "the rope of longing," taking up "masaki no tsuna" of the preceding poem and likening his feeling to a rope.
The third line, "naku wa koso," means "were there not," with "koso" an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective form "me" in the last line.
The fourth line, "masaki no kazura," is the masaki vine, answering "masaki no tsuna ni" in the second line of the preceding poem.
The last line, "yori mo nayamame," means "you might well struggle to twist it," with "me" the perfective form of the conjectural "mu," closing the "koso" of the third line. It implies that, since the rope of longing exists, there is no need to twist one.
- Author
- Ariwara no Yukihira
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Teru tsuki o masaki no tsuna ni yorikakete akazu wakaruru hito o tsunagan
- Next Poem
-
Sumiwabinu ima wa kagiri to yamazato ni tsumagi korubeki yado motometemu