現とも思ひわかれで過ぐる間に
見し世の夢を何語りけん
見し世の夢を何語りけん
- Roma-ji
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Utsutsu to mo omoiwakarede suguru ma ni mishi yo no yume o nani katariken
- English Translation
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While I pass my days
unable even to tell
if this is waking,
why did I speak of that dream,
the world I once knew?
- Meaning
- While I pass my days unable to tell whether this is even real, why did I speak of the dream of the world I once knew?
- Commentary
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Book Nine Poems of Lament 567
Headnote: "Her reply"
Jōtōmon'in's reply to Akazome Emon's poem before it. While I pass my days unable to tell if this is real, she says, why did I speak of the dream of the world I once knew? Since losing Emperor Ichijō her days have been neither dream nor reality, and the past spent with him is also like a dream; she seems to regret that by speaking of it she made Akazome Emon weep too.
The author, "Jōtōmon'in," is Fujiwara no Shōshi. The daughter of Regent Fujiwara no Michinaga, she became consort of Emperor Ichijō and mother of Emperors Go-Ichijō and Go-Suzaku. Murasaki Shikibu, Izumi Shikibu and Akazome Emon served her.
Retired Emperor Kazan's poem 551 of this book also sings of being unable to tell waking from dream, "utsutsu to mo yume to mo," and shares its first line with this poem.
First line, "utsutsu to mo": "whether as reality." It is the same first line as 551 of this book.
Second line, "omoiwakarede": "waka" is the irrealis of "waku," "to distinguish," "re" the irrealis of the potential "ru," and "de" a negative connective, "unable to tell apart."
Third line, "suguru ma ni": "while I pass my days."
Fourth line, "mishi yo no yume o": "mishi yo" is the world once lived, the days when Emperor Ichijō was alive, likened to a dream.
Fifth line, "nani katariken": "nani" means "why," and "ken" conjectures a past cause, "why did I speak of it?"
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shōshi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Tsune yori mo mata nuresoishi tamoto kana mukashi o kakete ochishi namida ni
- Next Poem
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Miyako e to omou ni tsukete kanashiki wa tare ka wa ima wa ware o matsuran