流れてと頼むるよりは山川の
恋しき瀬々に渡りやはせぬ
恋しき瀬々に渡りやはせぬ
- Roma-ji
-
Nagarete to tanomuru yori wa yamakawa no koishiki sese ni watari ya wa senu
- English Translation
-
Rather than have me
trust in "when time has flowed on,"
why won't you cross,
like the shallows of a stream,
at each moment that I long?
- Meaning
- Rather than make me trust in "someday, as time flows on," why will you not cross over to me at each moment of longing, as one crosses the shallows of a mountain stream?
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 691
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks why, rather than making the poet trust in "someday, as time flows on," the beloved will not cross over at each moment of longing, as one crosses the shallows of a mountain stream. Using "nagare," flow, "sese," shallows, and "watari," crossing, as words associated with a mountain stream, it voices a wish for a meeting now rather than a promise put off. Taking up "tanomu" from the two preceding poems, it reproaches one who only makes him wait in hope.
First line, "nagarete to," means "'when time has flowed on,'" with "nagare," flowing, associated with the mountain stream of the third line.
Second line, "tanomuru yori wa," means "rather than making me trust," using the same word as the second line of the preceding poem, 690, "tanomuru koto mo."
Third line, "yamakawa no," means "of a mountain stream."
Fourth line, "koishiki sese ni," means "at each moment of longing," overlaying "se," the shallows of a river, with an occasion or chance. It shares "se" and "wataru" with the final line of 649, "wataru se mo nashi."
Final line, "watari ya wa senu," means "will you not cross over," with the binding particle "ya wa" rhetorical and resolved by "nu," the attributive form of the negative "zu."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tsuyu bakari tanomuru koto mo naki mono o ayashi ya nani ni omoioiken
- Next Poem
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Aimite wa shini senu mi to zo narinu beki tanomuru ni dani noburu inochi wa