つらさをば君にならひて知りぬるを
うれしきことを誰に問はまし
うれしきことを誰に問はまし
- Roma-ji
-
Tsurasa o ba kimi ni naraite shirinuru o ureshiki koto o tare ni towamashi
- English Translation
-
Of bitterness, I
have learned from you all there is
and know it full well,
but of joy, whom should I ask
to teach me what that might be
- Meaning
- Bitterness I have learned from you and know all too well, but whom should I ask to teach me what joy is?
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Love Poems I 222
The poet has learned bitterness thoroughly from the beloved's coldness, but there is no one to teach him joy, and he wonders whom to ask. The conceit of being taught lightly expresses resentment toward one who teaches only pain.
The first line, "tsurasa o ba" (bitterness), singles it out with the emphatic "ba."
The second line, "kimi ni naraite" (learning from you), means the beloved's coldness has been his model of pain.
The third line, "shirinuru o," adds the concessive "o" to the attributive perfective: though I have come to know it.
The fourth line, "ureshiki koto o" (joy), pairs with "tsurasa" in the first line. The next poem, 223, takes it up with "ureshiki wa," weighing joy against sorrow.
The final line, "tare ni towamashi," uses "mashi" for hesitant intention, ending in perplexity: whom should I ask?
- Author
- Dōmyō
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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