悲しさの慰むべくもあらざりつ
夢のうちにも夢と見ゆれば
夢のうちにも夢と見ゆれば
- Roma-ji
-
Kanashisa no nagusamu beku mo arazaritsu yume no uchi ni mo yume to miyureba
- English Translation
-
My sorrow found
no way of being eased,
for even within
the dream I dreamed, I knew
that it was but a dream
- Meaning
- My sorrow was not eased at all—for even inside the dream, I could see that it was only a dream.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1421
Headnote: "Reply."
Taifu says that her sorrow was not eased, for even in the dream it appeared to be a dream. To the preceding poem's thought that she must have been comforted at least while dreaming, she answers that since even within the dream she knew it was a dream, it gave her no comfort at all.
It is the reply to the preceding poem by the daughter of Fujiwara no Harukami.
The poet, Taifu, seems to have been a lady-in-waiting and poet of the mid-Heian period, though little is known of her life.
The first line, "Kanashisa no," means "my sorrow."
The second line, "nagusamu beku mo," means "could be eased," taking up "nagusametsuran" in the preceding poem's second line.
The third line, "arazaritsu," means "was not," with "tsu" completion. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "yume no uchi ni mo," means "even within the dream," taking up "dream" in the preceding poem's fourth line.
The last line, "yume to miyureba," means "since it appeared a dream," with "ba" giving the cause, repeating "dream" from the fourth line.
- Author
- Taifu
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Toki no ma mo nagusametsuran samenu ma wa yume ni dani minu ware zo kanashiki
- Next Poem
-
Kakete dani waga mi no ue to omoiki ya komu toshi haru no hana o miji to wa