暮ればまづそなたをのみぞ眺むべき
出でむ日ごとに思ひおこせよ
出でむ日ごとに思ひおこせよ
- Roma-ji
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Kureba mazu sonata o nomi zo nagamubeki idemu hi goto ni omoiokoseyo
- English Translation
-
When the day grows dark,
first of all toward where you are
I shall turn my gaze;
with every rising sun, you,
send your thoughts back here to me.
- Meaning
- When evening falls, before anything else I will gaze only toward where you are; and you, each time the sun rises, send your thoughts back to me.
- Commentary
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Book Six Parting Poems 183
A poem promising to exchange thoughts with someone far away, with sunset and sunrise as signals. At dusk the speaker will gaze toward the other's direction, and each time the sun comes up the other is asked to think of the speaker; through the turning of a single day it voices the wish for hearts to meet across the distance.
First line, "kureba," adds "ba" to the irrealis of "kuru" (to grow dark), a supposition meaning when night falls, paired with "idemu hi" (the rising sun) in the final part.
Second line, "mazu sonata o nomi zo": "sonata" is the direction where you are, and "zo" agrees with the attributive "beki" in the third line.
Third line, "nagamubeki": "nagamu" is to gaze while lost in thought, and "beki" carries intention. The poem breaks after this line.
Fourth line, "idemu hi goto ni," means each time the sun rises. Like "akanesasu hi ni mukaitemo" in 178, it asks the traveler to remember the one left behind whenever facing the sunlight, and the two poems answer each other.
Final line, "omoiokoseyo": "omoiokosu" is to send one's thoughts this way from afar, and the imperative makes it a plea to the other.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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