思ひわびさても命はあるものを
憂きに堪へぬは涙なりけり
憂きに堪へぬは涙なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Omoiwabi sate mo inochi wa aru mono o uki ni taenu wa namida narikeri
- English Translation
-
Worn out with longing,
even so, my life goes on,
it still remains, yet
what cannot bear the pain
are these tears of mine
- Meaning
- Worn out with longing, my life goes on even so; yet what cannot bear the pain, I find, are my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems III 818
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Worn out with longing, he says, life still goes on, yet what cannot bear the pain is my tears. Troubled by love's pain and feeling that he might die, his life still goes on, yet his tears alone cannot bear the pain and overflow, a poem setting life against tears.
The author, "the monk Dōin," was the son of Fujiwara no Kiyotaka. His lay name was Atsuyori, and he is known for his deep devotion to poetry into old age. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Taking up the preceding poems on tear-wet sleeves, this one turns to the tears themselves. Poem 833 of this book sings that life itself is what is painful, since it is because one lives that one finds the beloved cruel, and it answers this poem in likewise binding life to pain.
First line, "omoiwabi": "omoiwabu" is to be worn out with longing, disheartened.
Second line, "sate mo inochi wa": "sate mo" means "and yet," "even so, my life." Like "inochi koso" in the first line of 833 of this book, it sings of life.
Third line, "aru mono o": "mono o" is an adversative particle, "goes on, and yet."
Fourth line, "uki ni taenu wa": "uki" is pain, and "nu" the attributive of the negative "zu," "what cannot bear the pain."
Fifth line, "namida narikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "is my tears," setting "tears" against "life" in the second line.
- Author
- Dōin
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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