藤衣あひ見るべしと思ひせば
まつにかかりて慰めてまし
まつにかかりて慰めてまし
- Roma-ji
-
Fujigoromo aimirubeshi to omoiseba matsu ni kakarite nagusametemashi
- English Translation
-
In wisteria robes,
if I thought that we would meet
again one day,
I'd cling to waiting, like the vine
on the pine, and so find comfort.
- Meaning
- Wearing my wisteria mourning robe, if only I thought we would meet again, I could cling to waiting, as wisteria clings to the pine, and find comfort in it.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Lament Poems 1295
Headnote: "Composed when he was grieving after the wife he loved had died"
The poet says that if he thought he would meet her again, he would cling to waiting, as wisteria clings to the pine, and find comfort. The headnote shows it was composed when he was grieving after losing the wife he loved. Through the wisteria of the mourning robe he brings in wisteria vines clinging to the pine, and pivoting on "matsu," pine and to wait, he laments that there is not even the hope of waiting, for he will never meet his wife again.
The author, Ōe no Tamemoto, was a son of Ōe no Tadamitsu, of the Ōe house of scholars.
First line, "fujigoromo," means "a mourning robe," and through the wisteria leads to "matsu ni kakarite" in the fourth line. It shares this word with the mourning poems 1291 to 1293 in this book.
Second line, "aimirubeshi to," means "that we would meet again," meeting the dead wife once more.
Third line, "omoiseba," means "if I thought so," with "se" taken as the irrealis form of the past auxiliary "ki," expressing counterfactual supposition.
Fourth line, "matsu ni kakarite," is a pivot word: "matsu" means the "pine" the wisteria clings to and "waiting."
Final line, "nagusametemashi," means "I would find comfort," with "mashi" the auxiliary of counterfactual supposition answering "seba" in the third line.
- Author
- Ōe no Tamemoto
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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