逢ふことをいつとも知らで君が言はむ
ときはの山のまつぞ苦しき
ときはの山のまつぞ苦しき
- Roma-ji
-
Au koto o itsu to mo shirade kimi ga iwamu Tokiwa no yama no matsu zo kurushiki
- English Translation
-
Not knowing when we
are ever to meet, I wait
for the time you'll name,
like the pine on Tokiwa's slope,
and how painful is the wait!
- Meaning
- Not knowing when we may meet, waiting for the "time" you will name, like a pine on Mount Tokiwa, is painful indeed.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 681
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that, not knowing when they may meet, waiting like a pine on Mount Tokiwa for the "time" the beloved will name is painful indeed. Pivoting "tokiwa" on "toki wa," the time she will name, and Mount Tokiwa in Yamashiro, and "matsu" on "pine" and "to wait," it expresses the pain of being kept waiting without end, like the pines of Tokiwa that never change their green. Following the preceding poem, 680, it sings of a waiting love, and like "matsu nite toshi no henuru kana" in 626, it pivots on "pine" and "wait."
First line, "au koto o," means "our meeting," the same line as the first line of the preceding poem, 680.
Second line, "itsu to mo shirade," means "not knowing when," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle.
Third line, "kimi ga iwamu," means "that you will say," with "mu" in its attributive form modifying "toki wa" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "Tokiwa no yama no," is a pivot word: "tokiwa" means "toki wa," the time she will name, and Mount Tokiwa in Yamashiro Province.
Final line, "matsu zo kurushiki," is a pivot word: "matsu" means the "pine" of Mount Tokiwa and "to wait." The binding particle "zo" is resolved by the attributive adjective "kurushiki." It uses the same pivot as the second line of 626, "matsu nite toshi no."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Au koto o tsukihi ni soete matsu toki wa kyō yukusue ni narine to zo omou
- Next Poem
-
Inochi o ba au ni kau to ka kikishikado ware ya tameshi ni awanu shini sen