思ふこと成すこそ神の難からめ
しばし忘るる心つけなん
しばし忘るる心つけなん
- Roma-ji
-
Omou koto nasu koso kami no katakarame shibashi wasururu kokoro tsukenan
- English Translation
-
To grant what I wish
may be a hard thing indeed
even for the gods,
but a heart that can forget
for a while, grant me at least.
- Meaning
- To grant my wish in love may be hard even for the gods, but please, at least give me a heart that can forget for a little while.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 997
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says: granting my wish in love may be hard even for the gods, but at least grant me a heart that can forget for a while. Resigning itself to love's fulfillment, it sings of an earnest prayer to the gods to be released from suffering, if only for a moment.
First line, "omou koto," means "what I wish for," my wish in love.
Second line, "nasu koso kami no," means "granting it, for the gods," with the binding particle "koso" forming a kakari-musubi with the third line. It answers "Tsukuma no kami" in 999, the closing poem of the book, as a poem of the gods.
Third line, "katakarame," means "may be hard," concluding with "me," the realis of the conjectural "mu," in answer to "koso" in the second line, and running adversatively into the lower verse.
Fourth line, "shibashi wasururu," means "forgetting for a while." It takes up the poems on "wasuru," to forget, that run from 992 in this book.
Final line, "kokoro tsukenan," means "please grant me a heart," with "tsuke" meaning to bestow and "nan" a final particle wishing something of another.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ayashiku mo itou ni hayuru kokoro kana ika ni shite ka wa omoitayubeki
- Next Poem
-
Takasago ni waga naku koe wa narinikeri miyako no hito wa kiki ya tsukuran