慕ふ秋は露もとまらぬ都へと
などて急ぎし舟出なるらん
などて急ぎし舟出なるらん
- Roma-ji
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Shitau aki wa tsuyu mo tomaranu miyako e to nadote isogishi funade naruran
- English Translation
-
To the capital,
where of autumn I so love
not a drop remained—
why was it, I wonder, that
I set out by boat in such haste?
- Meaning
- Why did I set out by boat in such a hurry for the capital, where not a dewdrop of the autumn I long for has remained?
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 1125
Headnote: "Reply"
This is Kaga's reply to the preceding poem. Why did I hurry so to set out by boat for the capital, where not a dewdrop of the autumn I longed for remains? she answers, as if regretting her own return.
Accepting the teasing question "where in the capital could autumn be lingering," she frankly admits that no autumn remained there and that she regrets her haste. Tsuyu mo joins "not in the least" with the autumn dew of the preceding poem, a deft reply. We learn that the return from the salt springs was made by boat.
First line, “shitau aki wa”: the autumn I long for; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “tsuyu mo tomaranu”: tsuyu mo, "not a bit," echoing the dew of the preceding poem.
Third line, “miyako e to”: toward the capital.
Fourth line, “nadote isogishi”: nadote is "why," wondering at her haste.
Fifth line, “funade naruran”: ran conjectures a cause, "why was it such a hurried departure by boat?"
- Author
- Kaga, Lady-in-Waiting to the Ōmiya
- Source
- Sankashu
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Shirakawa no sekiya o tsuki no moru kage wa hito no kokoro o tomuru narikeri