まだ知らぬおもひに燃ゆる我が身かな
さるは涙の河の中にて
さるは涙の河の中にて
- Roma-ji
-
Mada shiranu omoi ni moyuru waga mi kana saru wa namida no kawa no uchi nite
- English Translation
-
In a fire of love
never known to me before
this body of mine burns,
and all the while it stands
in the middle of a river of tears.
- Meaning
- This self of mine burns in a fire of love I have never known before—and that while standing in the midst of a river of tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 962
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says: how this self of mine burns in a fire of love never known before, and that while standing in a river of tears. Through the contradictory pairing of fire and water, burning in love's flame while steeped in a river of tears, it wittily sings of the intensity of love's suffering.
It closes the rain-and-tear poems that run from 956 in this book with a river of tears, and links on to the tear poem at 964.
First line, "mada shiranu," means "never known before."
Second line, "omoi ni moyuru," means "burning in the fire of love," with the "hi" of "omoi" a pivot word joining "hi," fire. It shares the conceit of love as fire with the fourth line of 929 in this book, "hito o omoi no."
Third line, "waga mi kana," means "such is this self of mine," with "kana" exclamatory. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "saru wa namida no," means "and yet, of tears," with "saru wa" meaning "even so."
Final line, "kawa no uchi nite," means "in the midst of the river." "Namida no kawa," a river of tears, likens endlessly flowing tears to a river, and the image also appears in 875 through 877 of Book Fourteen. It contrasts the fire of "moyuru" in the second line with the water of the river of tears in the final line.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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