待ちわびて恋しくならば尋ぬべく
跡なき水の上ならで行け
跡なき水の上ならで行け
- Roma-ji
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Machiwabite koishiku naraba tazunu beku ato naki mizu no ue narade yuke
- English Translation
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So that if I tire
of waiting and come to long,
I might follow you,
go by any way except
the traceless water's face
- Meaning
- So that if I grow weary of waiting and come to miss you, I can follow and seek you out, take any road but the surface of the water, which leaves no trace.
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Parting Poems 1339
Headnote: "Sent to someone setting off somewhere."
The poet asks the traveler to go by any way but the traceless water, so that she can follow when she tires of waiting and longs to see him. Telling a departing traveler that if he takes a road that leaves tracks she can follow when longing comes, she wittily voices her reluctance to part.
According to the headnote, she sent this to someone setting off somewhere. In this book, exchanges with travelers departing by boat follow.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Fujiwara no Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She received the emperor's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Naniwagata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo."
The first line, "Machiwabite," means "weary of waiting for your return."
The second line, "koishiku naraba," means "if I come to long for you," with "ba" a supposition.
The third line, "tazunu beku," means "so that I may seek you," with "beku" potential.
The fourth line, "ato naki mizu no," means "of the water that keeps no trace," a boat's passage leaving no track.
The last line, "ue narade yuke," means "go by any way but over it," ending in the imperative.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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