寂しさを憂き世にかへて忍ばずは
ひとり聞くべき松の風かは
ひとり聞くべき松の風かは
- Roma-ji
-
Sabishisa o ukiyo ni kaete shinobazu wa hitori kikubeki matsu no kaze ka wa
- English Translation
-
If I did not bear
this loneliness in exchange
for a world of sorrow,
is this the wind in the pines
one could listen to alone?
- Meaning
- Were I not bearing this loneliness in exchange for the sorrows of the world, is this a wind in the pines one could listen to alone? Surely not.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1138
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
If I did not bear this loneliness in exchange for the sorrowful world, is this a wind in the pines one could listen to alone, he says. The sound of the wind in the pines heard at a mountain dwelling is too lonely to listen to alone. That he can bear it is because he has chosen this loneliness in exchange for the pain of living in the sorrowful world, and he sings of his resolve to accept the loneliness of seclusion.
The author, "the monk Jakuren," was a son of Fujiwara no Shunkai, and his lay name was Sadanaga. He was adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Shunzei but later took the tonsure.
Where 1134 of this book listens to the sound of water at a quiet dwelling, this poem listens to the wind in the pines, both singing of sounds that echo in a still dwelling.
First line, "sabishisa o": "the loneliness" of the mountain dwelling.
Second line, "ukiyo ni kaete": "kau" means to exchange, "in exchange for the pains of the sorrowful world."
Third line, "shinobazu wa": "zu wa" is a negative supposition, "if I were not enduring it."
Fourth line, "hitori kikubeki": "that one could listen to alone."
Fifth line, "matsu no kaze ka wa": "ka wa" is a rhetorical binding particle, "is it such a wind in the pines? It is not."
- Author
- Jakuren
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Tsukuzuku to omoeba kanashi akatsuki no nezame mo yume o miru ni zo arikeru