忘るとは恨みざらなんはし鷹の
とかへる山の椎はもみぢず
とかへる山の椎はもみぢず
- Roma-ji
-
Wasuru to wa uramizaranan hashitaka no tokaeru yama no shii wa momijizu
- English Translation
-
Do not resent me,
saying I forgot—the sparrow hawk
may molt its feathers
on the mountain, yet its oaks
never turn to autumn red
- Meaning
- Do not reproach me, saying I have forgotten you; on the mountain where the sparrow hawk changes its plumage, the evergreen oaks never turn red.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1171
Headnote: "In reply when a woman sent me words of reproach."
The poet asks not to be reproached for forgetting, for the oaks of the mountain where the sparrow hawk molts never turn red. Reproached by a woman, the man likens his unchanging heart to the shii oaks, whose leaves keep their color on a mountain where even the hawk's feathers change.
According to the headnote, a woman sent him words of reproach, and he composed this in reply. Where 1121 in Book Fifteen laments a change of heart in a pine that should never change color, this poem entrusts an unchanging heart to oaks that never change.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Wasuru to wa," means "that I have forgotten."
The second line, "uramizaranan," means "I wish you would not resent," with "nan" a particle expressing a wish of another. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "hashitaka no," means "of the sparrow hawk," a small hawk.
The fourth line, "tokaeru yama no," means "of the mountain where it molts," with "tokaeru" a bird's changing its feathers. The hawk that changes its plumage is set against the oak that keeps its color.
The last line, "shii wa momijizu," means "the oaks do not turn red," likening his unchanging heart to the evergreen shii.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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