老いもせぬ十五の年もあるものを
今宵の月のかからましかば
今宵の月のかからましかば
- Roma-ji
-
Oi mo senu jūgo no toshi mo aru mono o koyoi no tsuki no kakaramashikaba
- English Translation
-
Since there is the age
of fifteen, a year untouched
by the ills of years,
would that this night's moon as well
might stay just the way it is.
- Meaning
- There is the age of fifteen, too young to know growing old; if only tonight's moon of the fifteenth could stay like that, unchanging.
- Commentary
-
Autumn Poems 335
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The fifteenth night of the eighth month"
This is the seventh poem, closing the series on the fifteenth night. People have an age of fifteen, the prime of youth that knows nothing of growing old; if only tonight's moon of the fifteenth could likewise stay forever unwaning. It is a witty poem laying the fifteen of a person's age over the fifteen of the fifteenth night.
Regretting that the full moon will soon wane, the series closes with a heart reluctant to let the moon go. Like 332, which expressed fifteen as five days beyond ten, it works the number fifteen into the poem.
First line, “oi mo senu”: not growing old, the age of youth at its height.
Second line, “jūgo no toshi mo”: the age of fifteen as well, overlapping with the fifteen of the fifteenth night.
Third line, “aru mono o”: mono o is concessive, though there is.
Fourth line, “koyoi no tsuki no”: tonight's moon, the moon of the fifteenth.
Fifth line, “kakaramashikaba”: mashika is the perfective form of mashi, supposing against fact, if only it were so, leaving unsaid how good that would be.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aki wa tada koyoi hitoyo no na narikeri onaji kumoi ni tsuki wa sumedomo
- Next Poem
-
Tsuki mireba kage naku kumo ni tsutsumarete koyoi narazuba yami ni miemashi