見ぬ人の恋しきやなぞおぼつかな
誰とか知らむ夢に見ゆとも
誰とか知らむ夢に見ゆとも
- Roma-ji
-
Minu hito no koishiki ya nazo obotsukana tare to ka shiramu yume ni miyu tomo
- English Translation
-
One I have not seen,
why is it that I long so?
how uncertain all!
how would I know who she was,
even should she come in dreams?
- Meaning
- Why is it that I long for one I have never seen? How uncertain it is; even if she appeared in my dreams, how would I know who she was?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 629
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks why the poet longs for one never seen, says how uncertain it is, and wonders how he would recognize her even if she came in his dreams. It expresses the strangeness and helplessness of loving someone whose face one does not know, through the thought that one could not tell her even in a dream. Like "minedo koishiki" in 627, it sings of love for one unseen, and together with the next poem, 630, two poems on dreams stand side by side.
First line, "minu hito no," means "one I have not seen," singing, like the second line of 665, "minu hito kouru," of love for someone unseen.
Second line, "koishiki ya nazo," means "why do I long so," with "ya" interrogative and "nazo" meaning "why."
Third line, "obotsukana," means "how uncertain," using the stem of the adjective "obotsukanashi" as an exclamation. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "tare to ka shiramu," means "how would I know who she was," with the binding particle "ka" rhetorical and resolved by the attributive "mu."
Final line, "yume ni miyu tomo," means "even should she appear in dreams," with "tomo" expressing a concessive supposition. It returns in inverted order to the fourth line and shares the word "yume," dream, with the first line of the next poem, 630, "yume yori zo."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Amagumo no yaegumogakure narukami no oto ni nomi ya wa kikiwataru beki
- Next Poem
-
Yume yori zo koishiki hito o misometsuru ima wa awasuru hito mo aranan