緑なるまつほど過ぎばいかでかは
下葉ばかりももみぢせざらん
下葉ばかりももみぢせざらん
- Roma-ji
-
Midori naru matsu hodo sugiba ikade ka wa shitaba bakari mo momiji sezaran
- English Translation
-
Even the pine,
ever green, if the waiting
drags on past its time,
how could it not let at least
its lower leaves turn red
- Meaning
- Even an evergreen pine, if the waiting stretches on too long, how could it not let at least its lower leaves turn to autumn color?
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1225
Headnote: "A man went away and came back after about two years; some time later he said, as though it were nothing, 'So what I heard about your name being linked with another man was true,' and she replied with this."
The poet asks how even a green pine, if the waiting runs long, could keep at least its lower leaves from turning. Joining "matsu," pine, and "matsu," to wait, she retorts to the man reproaching her that after two years of waiting, a slight change of heart is only natural.
According to the headnote, a man went away and returned after some two years, and some time later remarked casually that what he had heard of her being rumored with another man was true, so she composed this.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known.
The first line, "Midori naru," means "green," the unchanging color of the evergreen pine.
The second line, "matsu hodo sugiba," is a pivot word joining "matsu," pine, with "matsu," to wait: if the waiting runs long.
The third line, "ikade ka wa," means "how could it," rhetorical.
The fourth line, "shitaba bakari mo," means "at least the lower leaves," a figure for a slight change hidden within the heart.
The last line, "momiji sezaran," means "not turn to autumn color," completing the rhetorical question of the third line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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