過ぎ来にし四十路の春の夢の世は
憂きより外の思ひ出でぞなき
憂きより外の思ひ出でぞなき
- Roma-ji
-
Sugikinishi yosoji no haru no yume no yo wa uki yori hoka no omoiide zo naki
- English Translation
-
In this world of dreams,
forty springs that have gone by
like a fleeting dream,
I have no memories at all
but of sorrow and of pain
- Meaning
- In this dreamlike world of forty springs gone by, I have no memories at all other than those of sorrow.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1028
Headnote: "Composed on the theme of expressing one's feelings"
This poem was composed on the theme of expressing one's feelings. In the dreamlike world of forty springs gone by, I have no memories but of sorrow, he says. Likening forty years to a brief, fleeting spring night's dream, he frankly laments that looking back he finds only pain and not a single happy memory.
The author, "Priest Kakushin," was a monk of the late Heian period whose biography is not known in detail.
Where 987 of this book sings of the moon as "a memory of this sorrowful world," this poem sings that there is "no memory but of sorrow," reversing the same word "omoiide." And where 1022 of this book sings of "sixty years," this poem looks back on "forty."
First line, "sugikinishi": "ni" is the continuative of the perfective "nu" and "shi" the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "that have gone by."
Second line, "yosoji no haru no": "yosoji" means forty years or forty years of age, answering in its mention of age "musoji wa narenu" in the second line of 1022 of this book.
Third line, "yume no yo wa": "the world fleeting as a dream," layering the fleetingness of a spring dream.
Fourth line, "uki yori hoka no": "other than sorrow."
Fifth line, "omoiide zo naki": the emphatic binding particle "zo" closes with the attributive "naki," "there are no memories." It pairs with "omoiide ni" in the third line of 987 of this book.
- Author
- Kakushin
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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