ながらへば人の心も見るべきを
露の命ぞ悲しかりける
露の命ぞ悲しかりける
- Roma-ji
-
Nagaraeba hito no kokoro mo mirubeki o tsuyu no inochi zo kanashikarikeru
- English Translation
-
If I lived on long,
I might yet see what becomes
of another's heart—
it is this dewdrop life
that fills me so with sorrow
- Meaning
- Were I to live on, I might see what becomes of his heart; it is this dewdrop life of mine that is so sad.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1247
Headnote: "Written on a man's fan at a time when he was saying things he did not mean."
The poet says that if she lived on she could see what becomes of his heart, but her dewdrop life is sorrowful. Wishing to see where the heart of a man who hides his true feelings will end, she laments that with so frail a life even that may not be granted.
The headnote is the same as the preceding poem's: she wrote it on the man's fan when he was saying things he did not mean. It forms a pair with the preceding poem.
The poet, given in the text as "Tosa," was a lady-in-waiting called Tosa, of whom little is known.
The first line, "Nagaraeba," means "if I lived on," with "ba" a supposition.
The second line, "hito no kokoro mo," means "another's heart too," sharing "hito no kokoro" with the fourth line of the preceding poem.
The third line, "mirubeki o," means "I might see, and yet," with "o" concessive.
The fourth line, "tsuyu no inochi zo," means "this dewdrop life," with "zo" an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "kanashikarikeru," means "is so sorrowful," closing the "zo" with the attributive "keru."
- Author
- Tosa
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Mi ni samuku aranu mono kara wabishiki wa hito no kokoro no arashi narikeri
- Next Poem
-
Morotomo ni iza to wa iwade shide no yama ikade ka hitori koen to wa seshi