胸に満つおもひをだにも晴るかさで
煙とならむことぞ悲しき
煙とならむことぞ悲しき
- Roma-ji
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Mune ni mitsu omoi o dani mo harukasade keburi to naramu koto zo kanashiki
- English Translation
-
Without even clearing
the fire of longing that fills
my breast to the brim,
to become a trail of smoke,
that is what I grieve
- Meaning
- How sad it is that, without even being able to clear the fiery longing that fills my breast, I shall turn into smoke.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Poems of Lament 575
Headnote: "A poem found written on something and left behind, when her inkstone box and other things were being put in order after the posthumous Empress Dowager Ishi passed away"
After the death of the posthumous Empress Dowager Fujiwara no Ishi, this poem was found written on something and left behind when her inkstone box and other belongings were being put in order. How sad, she says, to become smoke without even clearing the fire of longing that fills my breast. Sensing her death, she laments that she will become the smoke of cremation without ever easing the feelings pent up within her; it is a poem that may be called her farewell to life.
The author, "the posthumous Empress Dowager Ishi," was the daughter of Major Counselor Fujiwara no Sanesue. She became a consort of Emperor Horikawa and bore Emperor Toba, but died in 1103 soon after giving birth. When Emperor Toba came to the throne, she was posthumously granted the title of Empress Dowager.
Poems 550 and 600 of this book also mourn the dead through the smoke of cremation.
First line, "mune ni mitsu": "filling my breast."
Second line, "omoi o dani mo": "omoi" is a pivot word joining "longing" and "hi," "fire," associated with "smoke" in the fourth line. "Dani" marks the least, "if only my longing."
Third line, "harukasade": "harukasu" is to clear away, and "de" a negative connective, "without clearing it."
Fourth line, "keburi to naramu": to become the smoke of cremation, with "mu" the attributive of the conjectural. "Smoke" follows from the "fire" in "omoi."
Fifth line, "koto zo kanashiki": the emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "kanashiki."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Ishi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Omoiyare munashiki toko o uchiharai mukashi o shinobu sode no shizuku o
- Next Poem
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Morotomo ni ariake no tsuki o mishi mono o ika naru yami ni kimi madouran