よそにてもありにしものを花すすき
ほのかに見てぞ人は恋しき
ほのかに見てぞ人は恋しき
- Roma-ji
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Yoso nite mo arinishi mono o hanasusuki honoka ni mite zo hito wa koishiki
- English Translation
-
Even from afar
I had lived on well enough,
but like pampas plumes
glimpsed faintly, I saw her once,
and now how I long for her!
- Meaning
- From afar I had lived on well enough, yet having glimpsed her faintly, as one glimpses pampas plumes, now I long for her.
- Commentary
-
Book Twelve Love Poems II 732
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent to a woman"
The poem says that the poet had lived on well enough at a distance without meeting, but since glimpsing the beloved faintly, he longs for her. With "hanasusuki," plumed pampas grass, leading into "ho" of the same sound, it lays over plumes faintly seen the glimpsed image of the beloved. It expresses a heart stirred to longing precisely because it saw so little. With "honoka ni mieshi" in the next poem, 733, two poems on faint glimpses stand side by side.
First line, "yoso nite mo," means "even from afar."
Second line, "arinishi mono o," means "I had lived on, yet," the same line as the second lines of 712 and 728 in this book, "arinishi mono o."
Third line, "hanasusuki," is pampas grass in plume, leading into "honoka ni" in the fourth line through the shared sound "ho."
Fourth line, "honoka ni mite zo," means "having glimpsed faintly," echoing "ho," the plume. The binding particle "zo" is resolved by the attributive "koishiki" in the final line. It shares the same words with the fourth line of the next poem, 733, "honoka ni mieshi."
Final line, "hito wa koishiki," means "I long for her."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ushi to omou mono kara hito no koishiki wa izuko o shinobu kokoro naruran
- Next Poem
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Yume yori mo hakanaki mono wa kagerou no honoka ni mieshi kage ni zo arikeru