冬のよはめさへ氷にとちられて
明しかたきを明しけるかな
明しかたきを明しけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Fuyu no yo wa me sae kōri ni tojirarete akashigataki o akashikeru kana
- English Translation
-
On this winter night
even my eyes were frozen shut,
sealed fast in the ice,
yet the night so hard to pass
I somehow passed till dawn
- Meaning
- On this winter night even my eyes were sealed shut with ice, and yet I somehow made it through a night that was so hard to end.
- Commentary
-
46 Winter Nights
The day after their exchange about the snowy branch, early in the morning, a poem came from the prince.
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 the prince's "Fuyu no yo wa koishiki koto ni me mo awade koromo katashiki ake zo shinikeru" arrived, saying he had passed the night sleepless and alone for longing, Izumi Shikibu wrote, "Well, indeed," and sent back this poem.
So the two consoled each other's loneliness as the days went by, though when she thought about it, it was all a fragile thing. Before long the prince began to speak forlornly, wondering whether he could live on in this world much longer.
The opening lines mean "on a winter night, even my eyes, by ice," with a particle of addition; it is an exaggeration saying that her tears froze and sealed even her eyes. The third line means "being shut," with a passive auxiliary.
The lower verses mean "I passed the night that was so hard to pass," repeating "pass the night" to stress the feeling of having at last come through a long and painful night, closing in an exclamation. Taking up his "could not close my eyes" and "the dawn came round," she retorts that, far from being sleepless, her very eyes froze shut with tears, answering that her night was harder still.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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