むばたまの今夜な明けそ明けゆかば
朝行く君を待つ苦しきに
朝行く君を待つ苦しきに
- Roma-ji
-
Mubatama no koyoi na ake so akeyukaba asa yuku kimi o matsu kurushiki ni
- English Translation
-
Black as the berries,
do not break, O night, I pray;
if the dawn should come,
how it pains me to wait for you
who leave me with the morning.
- Meaning
- Do not let this night end; if it gives way to dawn, how painful it will be to wait again for you, who leave in the morning.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems II 717
The poem pleads that this night not end, for if dawn comes it will be painful to wait again for the lover who leaves in the morning. From a woman's standpoint, it thinks of the man who departs at daybreak and protests the pain of waiting until the next night they can meet. A poem of nearly the same import also appears in the Man'yōshū.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many Man'yōshū poems under his name.
First line, "mubatama no," is a pillow word for "night," here modifying "koyoi," tonight, in the second line. It is a variant form of "nubatama no."
Second line, "koyoi na ake so," means "tonight, do not end," with "na ... so" expressing prohibition. The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "akeyukaba," means "if it gives way to dawn," repeating "ake" from the second line. It shares the grief at the coming of dawn with the fourth line of 719 in this book, "akeyuku hodo wa."
Fourth line, "asa yuku kimi o," means "you who leave in the morning."
Final line, "matsu kurushiki ni," means "for it is painful to wait," giving in inverted order the reason for the wish in the second line.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aimite mo nao nagusamanu kokoro kana iku chiyo nete ka koi no samu beki
- Next Poem
-
Hitorineshi toki wa matareshi tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri