夕暮は誰もさのみそおもほゆる
まちわふ君そ人にまされる
まちわふ君そ人にまされる
- Roma-ji
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Yūgure wa tare mo sa nomi zo omōyuru machiwabu kimi zo hito ni masareru
- English Translation
-
When the evening falls,
everyone, it seems, must feel
that same sad longing;
but you, who wait for me in vain,
must feel it more than all
- Meaning
- At dusk everyone feels that way; but you, weary with waiting, must feel it more deeply than anyone.
- Commentary
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37 The Sadness of Evening
After returning from his place of abstinence, Izumi Shikibu still could not make up her mind to go to the prince's residence and passed the days lost in thought. The leaves that had shown so many colors were all gone, and though the sky was bright and clear, the light of the slowly sinking sun looked forlorn, so as usual she sent the prince a poem.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
When Izumi Shikibu's "Nagusamuru kimi mo ari to wa omoedomo nao yūgure wa mono zo kanashiki" arrived, the prince sent back this poem.
After the poem he added, "When I think so, I feel such tenderness. I want to come to you right now." Early the next morning, with the frost lying very white, the prince would write asking how she was faring at that hour.
The opening lines mean "at dusk everyone thinks only so," taking up her "still, the evening," and answering that everyone feels the sadness of evening. The third line means "it seems," a verb of spontaneous feeling, sealed by an emphatic construction.
The lower verses mean "you who wait wearily surpass all others," where the verb means to wait in weary grief, sealed by an emphatic construction. Accepting the sadness of evening as something all share, he adds that the sorrow of one who waits for his visit must be beyond all others, thinking of her loneliness and conveying his wish to come to her at once.
- Author
- Prince Atsumichi
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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Nagusamuru kimi mo ari to wa omoedomo nao yūgure wa mono zo kanashiki
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Okinagara akaseru shimo no ashita koso masareru mono wa yo ni nakarikere