雪もふり雨も降ぬるこの比を
朝しもとのみおきゐてはみる
朝しもとのみおきゐてはみる
- Roma-ji
-
Yuki mo furi ame mo furinuru kono koro o asashimo to nomi okiite wa miru
- English Translation
-
Though snow has fallen
and the rain as well has come
in these recent days,
all I see as I sit up awake
is only morning frost
- Meaning
- Though snow has fallen and rain as well these days, all I see as I sit up sleepless is the morning frost.
- Commentary
-
42 The Snipe on a Freezing Night
After their exchange about composing verse, on a morning when the frost lay whiter than usual, a letter came from the prince asking how she saw it.
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.
Having answered on the frosty morning with "Sayuru yo no kazu kaku shigi wa ware nare ya iku asashimo o okite mitsuran," Izumi Shikibu, since heavy rain had also been falling at the time, went on to compose this poem.
That night the prince came to her and spoke idly as usual, but before long he would speak forlornly of what might happen if he were to take holy vows.
The opening lines mean "snow has fallen and rain too," repeating "too" to set the changing weather side by side. The third line means "in these days, yet."
The lower verses mean "I sit up and see only the morning frost," where "oki" means both frost settling and staying awake. Even amid falling snow and rain, she says, her eyes see only the frost of sleepless mornings, and following the previous poem she laments the endless string of nights spent waiting for him.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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