落つれども軒に知られぬ玉水は
恋のながめの雫なりけり
恋のながめの雫なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Otsuredomo noki ni shirarenu tamamizu wa koi no nagame no shizuku narikeri
- English Translation
-
The jewel drops that fall
yet are never known to come
from any eaves at all:
these, I find, are the drops of
long rains, the brooding of my love
- Meaning
- These jewel-like drops that fall and yet come from no eaves are, I find, the drops of my love's long rain, the tears I shed as I gaze and brood.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 686
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The jewel drops that fall unknown to the eaves, he says, are the drops of love's long rains. Playing on "tamamizu," the jewel drops that fall from the eaves, he likens water that falls with no eaves at all, the tears shed in brooding, to the drops of "nagame," a word that joins "long rains" and "gazing in reverie."
The author, "Ōnakatomi no Kiyofumi," was of the Ōnakatomi clan, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine. Little is known of his life.
Like "ame mo namida mo wakarezarikeri" in 658 of this book, it overlays rain and tears.
First line, "otsuredomo": "otsure" is the perfective of "otsu," "to fall," and with "domo" it becomes adversative, "though they fall."
Second line, "noki ni shirarenu": "unknown to the eaves," meaning they are not raindrops from the eaves.
Third line, "tamamizu wa": "tamamizu" means lovely drops of water, often the raindrops that fall from the eaves.
Fourth line, "koi no nagame no": "nagame" combines "naga-ame," "long rains," and "nagame," gazing lost in thought.
Fifth line, "shizuku narikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "they were the drops." Like "sode no shizuku o" in the last line of 699, it calls tears "drops."
- Author
- Ōnakatomi no Kiyofumi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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