逢ふことは心にもあらでほど経とも
さやは契りし忘れはてねと
さやは契りし忘れはてねと
- Roma-ji
-
Au koto wa kokoro ni mo arade hodo fu tomo sa ya wa chigirishi wasurehatene to
- English Translation
-
Though our meetings now,
against my will, come seldom
and the days go by,
did I ever pledge it so:
"forget me entirely"?
- Meaning
- Even if, against my will, the days go by without our meeting, did I ever promise you such a thing as "forget me entirely"?
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 992
Headnote: "Sent to a woman"
The poem asks: even if time passes without our meeting against my will, did I ever promise that you should forget me entirely? Through a rhetorical question it pleads that, however long the days without meeting, he has no intention of forgetting her.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman. It carries his wish to explain, when she resents the break in his visits, that he has been unable to meet her against his will.
The author, "Taira no Tadayori", was an official of the mid-Heian period whose career is not known in detail.
First line, "au koto wa," means "our meeting."
Second line, "kokoro ni mo arade," means "against my will," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle.
Third line, "hodo fu tomo," means "even if time passes," with "tomo" an adversative supposition.
Fourth line, "sa ya wa chigirishi," means "did I promise so? surely not," with "ya wa" rhetorical and "shi" the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki." The poem breaks here.
Final line, "wasurehatene to," means "that you should forget entirely," with "ne" the imperative of the perfective "nu." It gives afterward, by inversion, the content of "sa," so, in the fourth line. It shares the word "wasuru" with "wasurenan" in the next poem, 993, and "wasurenuru" in 994.
- Author
- Taira no Tadayori
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Inishie o sara ni kakeji to omoedomo ayashiku me ni mo mitsu namida kana
- Next Poem
-
Wasururu ka isa sa wa ware mo wasurenan hito ni shitagau kokoro to naraba