いかで我つれなき人に身を変へて
恋しきほどを思ひ知らせん
恋しきほどを思ひ知らせん
- Roma-ji
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Ikade ware tsurenaki hito ni mi o kaete koishiki hodo o omoishirasen
- English Translation
-
Somehow, could I but
change places with the cruel one,
exchange my self for hers,
how much I long for her
I would make her know at last
- Meaning
- If only I could somehow trade places with the one so cold to me, then I would make her feel at last how deeply I long for her.
- Commentary
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Book Twelve Love Poems II 712
Headnote: "Sent to a woman"
A poem sent to a woman. If only I could somehow change places with the cold one, he says, I would make her know how much I long for her. It plainly voices the impossible wish that, if only their places were exchanged, she would at last understand the pain of this love.
The author, "the Tokudaiji Minister of the Left," is Fujiwara no Saneyoshi. The son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Kinzane, he rose to Minister of the Left and founded the Tokudaiji house. He was the elder brother of Taikenmon'in Tamako, consort of Emperor Toba.
Poem 750 of this book also has "mi o kaete" as its third line. Fujiwara no Kinzane, author of 704 at the head of this book, was the father of this poem's author.
First line, "ikade ware": "ikade," paired with an expression of wish, means "somehow," answering the "n" of the last line.
Second line, "tsurenaki hito ni": "tsurenaki" is the attributive of "tsurenashi," "with the cold one who does not answer my love."
Third line, "mi o kaete": "exchanging our selves." It is the same as the third line of 750 of this book.
Fourth line, "koishiki hodo o": "hodo" is degree, "how much I long."
Fifth line, "omoishirasen": "n" is the auxiliary "mu" of will and wish, answering "ikade" in the first line, "I would make her know."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Saneyoshi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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