賤の女がすそとる糸に露添ひて
思ひにたがふ恋もするかな
思ひにたがふ恋もするかな
- Roma-ji
-
Shizu no me ga suso toru ito ni tsuyu soite omoi ni tagau koi mo suru kana
- English Translation
-
Like the humble girl's
thread in spinning that the dew
comes to dampen so,
all against what I would wish,
this is the love I am in.
- Meaning
- Like the thread a humble woman spins, gone damp with dew and refusing to go as she wishes, mine is a love that runs against all my desires.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 594
Headnote: "Love expressed through thread"
The topic is love expressed through thread. Just as the thread handled by a humble woman grows damp with dew and will not go as she wishes, so too the poet is caught in a love that will not go as he wishes. The meaning of suso toru ito is uncertain, but it is taken to refer to the work of spinning thread. The dew on the thread carries the tears of love.
From this poem a sequence follows of love expressed through things, thread, plum, blossoms, lingering blossoms, returning geese, autumn flowers, deer, kaya grass, mist, autumn leaves, fallen leaves, ice and waterfowl, arranged roughly in the order of the seasons.
First line, “shizu no me ga”: shizu no me is a woman of humble station.
Second line, “suso toru ito ni”: taken to mean the thread the humble woman handles, answering the thread of the topic.
Third line, “tsuyu soite”: dew added to it, the thread grown damp and hard to work; the dew carries tears.
Fourth line, “omoi ni tagau”: contrary to one's wishes, not going as one would want.
Fifth line, “koi mo suru kana”: kana is exclamatory: such a love it is that I have.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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