御垣守衛士のたく火の夜は燃え
昼は消えつつものをこそ思へ
昼は消えつつものをこそ思へ
- Roma-ji
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Mikakimori eji no taku hi no yoru wa moe hiru wa kietsutsu mono o koso omoe
- English Translation
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Like the guardsmen's fires,
the watchers of the palace gates,
by night they blaze up,
by day they die away —
so does my heart burn with longing
- Meaning
- Like the watch fires kindled by the guardsmen at the palace gates, blazing by night and dying out by day, so I burn with love by night and fade away by day, lost in longing.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Love Poems I 225
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet likens his heart, which burns with love by night and sinks to nothing by day, to the watch fires of the guards at the palace gates, blazing at night and going out by day. The vivid contrasts of night and day, burning and dying, trace the rise and fall of love's torment.
It was included as poem 49 of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and chosen by Fujiwara no Teika for both Teika Hachidaisho and Hachidaishu Shuitsu. However, since a similar poem appears without an author in the Kokin Waka Rokujo, some doubt that Yoshinobu was its author.
The first line, "mikakimori" (guardian of the palace walls), together with the second line forms a preface leading to "yoru wa moe hiru wa kie."
The second line, "eji no taku hi no," refers to the watch fires lit by the eji, soldiers summoned from the provinces to guard the palace gates. The metaphor of love's fire, continuing from 187 at the head of this book, is here pictured as a night scene at the palace.
The third line, "yoru wa moe" (by night they blaze), overlays the fire blazing at night with love flaring up at night.
The fourth line, "hiru wa kietsutsu," forms a parallel with the third line, overlaying the fire dying out by day with a heart fading away by day.
The final line, "mono o koso omoe," forms a kakari-musubi of "koso" with the perfective "omoe," declaring firmly that he is lost in longing.
- Author
- Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Koisureba uki mi sae koso oshimarure onaji yo ni dani sumamu to omoeba
- Next Poem
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Waga koi ya futami kawareru tamakushige ika ni suredomo au kata mo naki