さやかにも見るべき月を我はただ
涙に曇る折ぞ多かる
涙に曇る折ぞ多かる
- Roma-ji
-
Sayaka ni mo mirubeki tsuki o ware wa tada namida ni kumoru ori zo ōkaru
- English Translation
-
The moon that I should
see so clearly shining there,
I can only watch
clouded over by my tears,
so many are those times.
- Meaning
- The moon that I should see so clearly, I often find only clouded by my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 788
Headnote: "Reply"
The reply says that the moon one ought to see clearly is often clouded over by tears. To the preceding poem, 787, in which Minamoto no Saneakira said she could not fail to look at tonight's moon, she answers that she does look, but it is often clouded by tears of longing for him, conveying the depth of her own love.
The author, "Nakatsukasa," was a woman poet born to Prince Atsuyoshi, son of Emperor Uda, and the poet Ise. She is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for her exchanges of love poems with Minamoto no Saneakira.
First line, "sayaka ni mo," means "clearly." It shares "sayaka" with the second line of 783, "sayaka ni miezu," so that the unseen moon and the moon one should see form a pair.
Second line, "mirubeki tsuki o," means "the moon I ought to see," answering "koyoi no tsuki o" in the preceding poem, 787.
Third line, "ware wa tada," means "I, only."
Fourth line, "namida ni kumoru," means "clouded with tears," answering "onaji kokoro ni arazu tomo" in the preceding poem with a longing deep enough to cloud the eyes.
Final line, "ori zo ōkaru," means "the times are many," concluding in the attributive form "ōkaru" in answer to "zo."
- Author
- Nakatsukasa
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Koishisa wa onaji kokoro ni arazu tomo koyoi no tsuki o kimi mizarame ya
- Next Poem
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Hisakata no ama teru tsuki mo kakureyuku nani ni yosoete kimi o shinobamu