身に寒くあらぬものからわびしきは
人の心の嵐なりけり
人の心の嵐なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Mi ni samuku aranu mono kara wabishiki wa hito no kokoro no arashi narikeri
- English Translation
-
Though it is not that
my body feels the chill,
what leaves me desolate
is the storm wind that blows
through another's heart, I see
- Meaning
- It is not that I feel cold in body, yet what makes me so desolate is the storm that blows in another's heart.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1246
Headnote: "Written on a man's fan at a time when he was saying things he did not mean."
The poet says that though she is not cold in body, what makes her desolate is the storm in another's heart. She likens the coldness of a man saying what he does not mean to a storm that chills one to the bone, and sings of the desolation of a cold wind blowing through the heart.
According to the headnote, she wrote it on the man's fan when he was saying things he did not mean. The next poem comes from the same occasion, and the two form a pair.
The poet, given in the text as "Tosa," was a lady-in-waiting called Tosa, of whom little is known.
The first line, "Mi ni samuku," means "cold in body."
The second line, "aranu mono kara," means "though it is not," with "mono kara" concessive.
The third line, "wabishiki wa," means "what leaves me desolate."
The fourth line, "hito no kokoro no," means "of another's heart," the man's heart. The next poem also speaks of "hito no kokoro" in its second line.
The last line, "arashi narikeri," means "is the storm, I see," with "narikeri" for realization. Poem 1211 of this book also speaks of a storm.
- Author
- Tosa
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Shirakumo no kiyadoru mine no komatsubara eda shigekere ya hi no hikari minu
- Next Poem
-
Nagaraeba hito no kokoro mo mirubeki o tsuyu no inochi zo kanashikarikeru