人目をば包むと思ふにせきかねて
袖にあまるは涙なりけり
袖にあまるは涙なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Hitome o ba tsutsumu to omou ni sekikanete sode ni amaru wa namida narikeri
- English Translation
-
Though I mean to hide
my love from the eyes of others,
I cannot hold back
what spills over from my sleeves:
it is my tears, I find
- Meaning
- I mean to hide my love from others' eyes, yet I cannot hold it back, and what spills over from my sleeves, I find, is my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 697
Headnote: "Composed as a love poem"
Composed as a love poem. Though I mean to hide it from others' eyes, he says, what I cannot hold back and what overflows my sleeves is my tears. However he tries to hide his love out of concern for others, tears overflow beyond what his sleeves can catch, and he laments it.
The author, "Provisional Major Counselor Muneie," is Fujiwara no Muneie. The son of Palace Minister Fujiwara no Muneyoshi, he rose to Provisional Major Counselor.
The four poems from here to 700 are love poems under the same headnote. The poem shares its feeling with "tsutsumedomo namida ni sode no arawarete" in 648 of this book, and its last line, "namida narikeri," is the same as the last lines of 662 and 688.
First line, "hitome o ba": "o ba" strengthens the object, "from the eyes of others."
Second line, "tsutsumu to omou ni": "tsutsumu" means to hide out of concern for others, and "ni" is adversative. It is the same verb as "tsutsumedomo" in the first lines of 648 and 649.
Third line, "sekikanete": "unable to dam it back." It is akin to "sekiwabite" in the third line of 654.
Fourth line, "sode ni amaru wa": "what overflows my sleeves, more than they can catch."
Fifth line, "namida narikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "it was my tears." It is the same as the last lines of 662 and 688.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Muneie
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Nagarete mo susugi ya suru to nureginu hito wa kisu tomo mi ni wa narasaji
- Next Poem
-
Tsurenasa ni iwade taenan to omou koso aiminu saki no wakare narikere