遥かなるほどにも通ふ心かな
さりとて人の知らぬものゆゑ
さりとて人の知らぬものゆゑ
- Roma-ji
-
Haruka naru hodo ni mo kayou kokoro kana saritote hito no shiranu mono yue
- English Translation
-
Even across
this great distance it travels,
this heart of mine, and yet,
even so, the one I love
will never come to know.
- Meaning
- Even across so great a distance my heart goes to you—and yet, even so, you will never know.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 908
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that though we are far apart, my heart travels to that person, and yet that does not mean they know of it. It sings of the emptiness of a one-sided love whose feeling, though it should reach the other, is never conveyed.
From 906 to 908 in this book, three poems by Ise follow in a row, all singing of a heart that thinks from afar of someone it cannot meet.
The author, "Ise," was a woman poet of the early to mid-Heian period and the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda, and later received the emperor's favor. She is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "haruka naru," means "far distant." It shares the thought of someone far away with the second line of the next poem, 909, "hito o haruka ni."
Second line, "hodo ni mo kayou," means "traveling even across the distance," with "hodo" meaning distance.
Third line, "kokoro kana," means "such is my heart," with "kana" expressing exclamation. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "saritote hito no," means "but even so, that person."
Final line, "shiranu mono yue," means "does not know of it," with "mono yue" adversative.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Omoiki ya aiminu hodo no toshitsuki o kazou bakari ni naran mono to wa
- Next Poem
-
Kumoi naru hito o haruka ni omou ni wa waga kokoro sae sora ni koso nare