目の前に変はり果てにし世の憂さに
涙を君に流しけるかな
涙を君に流しけるかな
- Roma-ji
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Me no mae ni kawarihatenishi yo no usa ni namida o kimi ni nagashikeru kana
- English Translation
-
Before our very eyes,
by the sorrow of a world
so utterly changed,
we have caused even you
to shed tears as you have done.
- Meaning
- Through the bitterness of a world so utterly changed before our very eyes, we have made even you weep such tears.
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 1235
Headnote: "Reply"
This is the reply of a lady-in-waiting serving Retired Emperor Sutoku in Sanuki. Through the sorrow of a world changed utterly before our eyes, she says, we have caused even you to weep.
To Saigyō's message that he thinks of the emperor with tears as his keepsake, she conveys, from the emperor's side, regret that such a reversal of fortune has so grieved him. Her name is not recorded. There are three replies, and two more follow.
First line, “me no mae ni”: before our very eyes.
Second line, “kawarihatenishi”: changed utterly; nishi joins perfective and past.
Third line, “yo no usa ni”: through the bitterness of the world.
Fourth line, “namida o kimi ni”: tears, even upon you, answering "the tears that fall."
Fifth line, “nagashikeru kana”: "how we have made you shed them"; kana is exclamatory.
- Source
- Sankashu
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