かからでもありにしものを白雪の
ひと日もふれば増さる我が恋
ひと日もふれば増さる我が恋
- Roma-ji
-
Kakarade mo arinishi mono o shirayuki no hitohi mo fureba masaru waga koi
- English Translation
-
I had lived on well
without feeling such as this,
but like the white snow
that deepens in a day's fall,
so my love grows each day.
- Meaning
- I had lived well enough without this, yet like white snow piling deeper with each day's fall, my love grows with every day that passes.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems II 728
Headnote: "Sent when, having begun to court a woman, he was prevented from visiting her"
The poem says that the poet had lived without such brooding, yet like white snow that piles deeper in a single day's fall, his love grows with each day he cannot see her. The headnote shows it was sent when, having begun to court a woman, he was prevented from visiting her. Pivoting "fure" on snow "falling" and days "passing," it lays over the piling snow a love that swells day by day.
The author, Ariwara no Narihira, was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei. He is counted among the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, and he is regarded as the model for the hero of the Tales of Ise.
First line, "kakarade mo," means "without this," that is, without such brooding.
Second line, "arinishi mono o," means "I had lived on, yet," the same line as the second lines of 712 and 732 in this book, "arinishi mono o."
Third line, "shirayuki no," means "like the white snow," leading into "furu," to fall. Following the freezing tears of the preceding poem, 727, it sings of winter imagery.
Fourth line, "hitohi mo fureba," is a pivot word: "fure" means snow "falling" and days "passing."
Final line, "masaru waga koi," means "how my love grows," overlaid with the snow piling deeper, ending on a noun.
- Author
- Ariwara no Narihira
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Kimi kouru namida no kōru fuyu no yo wa kokoro toketaru i ya wa neraruru
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Asagōri tokuru ma mo naki kimi ni yori nado te sohotsuru tamoto naruran