あやめつつ人知るとてもいかがせん
忍びはつべき袂ならねば
忍びはつべき袂ならねば
- Roma-ji
-
Ayametsutsu hito shiru tote mo ikaga sen shinobihatsu beki tamoto naraneba
- English Translation
-
Though they wonder, and
though people come to know of it,
what is there to do?
for they are not sleeves that can
keep it hidden to the end.
- Meaning
- Even if people wonder and come to know of my love, what can I do? These are not sleeves that can keep it hidden to the end.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 660
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Even if people grow suspicious at the sight of his tear-soaked sleeves and his love becomes known, it cannot be helped; these sleeves are not the kind that can keep a secret to the end. In a tone of defiant resignation, the poem expresses the tears of a love that cannot be hidden however hard one tries.
Where 580 in this book worried that the sleeves were so wet that people would wonder, this poem no longer cares if the love is known, using the same word ayamu to show a different stage of hidden love.
First line, “ayametsutsu”: ayamu is to find strange: people wondering.
Second line, “hito shiru tote mo”: even if people come to know.
Third line, “ikaga sen”: what can I do? It cannot be helped. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “shinobihatsu beki”: shinobihatsu is to keep hidden to the very end.
Fifth line, “tamoto naraneba”: since they are not such sleeves, an inversion giving the reason for the upper verse.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Nani yue ka kyō made mono o omowamashi inochi ni kaete au yo nariseba
- Next Poem
-
Namidagawa fukaku nagaruru mio naraba asaki hitome ni tsutsumazaramashi