さらばよと別れし時に言はませば
我も涙におぼほれなまし
我も涙におぼほれなまし
- Roma-ji
-
Saraba yo to wakareshi toki ni iwamaseba ware mo namida ni obohorenamashi
- English Translation
-
Had I said to you,
"Farewell, then," at the moment
when we came to part,
I too would surely have drowned
in a flood of my own tears
- Meaning
- Had I said "Farewell, then" at the moment we parted, I too would surely have drowned in my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Parting Poems 1341
Headnote: "Reply."
Ise says that had she said "farewell" when they parted, she too would have drowned in tears. Reproached in the preceding poem for leaving without a word, she answers that she left in silence because speaking the parting words would have overwhelmed her with tears.
It is Ise's reply to the preceding poem by the posthumous Chancellor Fujiwara no Tokihira.
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, "Saraba yo to," means "saying 'farewell, then.'"
The second line, "wakareshi toki ni," means "at the moment we parted."
The third line, "iwamaseba," means "had I said it," with "maseba" a counterfactual condition. It answers "shirarenu," not told, in the preceding poem's fourth line.
The fourth line, "ware mo namida ni," means "I too, in tears."
The last line, "obohorenamashi," means "would have drowned," answering "maseba" in the third line as a counterfactual.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Komu to iite wakaruru dani mo aru mono o shirarenu kesa no mashite wabishisa
- Next Poem
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Harugasumi hakanaku tachite wakaru tomo kaze yori hoka ni tare ka tou beki