また来むと誰にもえこそ言ひおかね
心にかなふ命ならねば
心にかなふ命ならねば
- Roma-ji
-
Mata komu to tare ni mo e koso iiokane kokoro ni kanau inochi naraneba
- English Translation
-
That I will return
I cannot bring myself to
promise anyone,
for this life of mine is not
a thing that bends to my will.
- Meaning
- I cannot bring myself to promise anyone that I will come back again, for life is not something that goes as one's heart would wish.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Parting Poems 180
A poem from the side of the one departing, voicing a heart that cannot promise a reunion. Since life does not obey one's wishes, the speaker cannot tell anyone that they will surely return, and a sense of impermanence, felt anew at every parting, seeps through.
First line, "mata komu to": the volitional "mu" gives the words of a promise to come back again.
Second line, "tare ni mo e koso": "e" with a negative expresses impossibility, and "koso" agrees with "okane" in the third line.
Third line, "iiokane": "ne" is the negative "zu" in the form concluding "koso," meaning "cannot leave word." The poem breaks after this line.
Fourth line, "kokoro ni kanau," means to go as one wishes.
Final line, "inochi naraneba" (since life is not), gives in inverted order the reason one cannot speak. The next poem, 181, ends in the same form, "sumika naraneba," so two poems that rest on the uncertainty of life and dwelling stand side by side.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Wakareji no kusaba o wakemu tabigoromo tatsu yori kanete nururu sode kana
- Next Poem
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Todomaramu todomaraji tomo omooezu izuku mo tsui no sumika naraneba