君を我が思ふ心は大原や
いつしかとのみすみやかれつつ
いつしかとのみすみやかれつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi o waga omou kokoro wa Ōhara ya itsushika to nomi sumiyakaretsutsu
- English Translation
-
The heart with which I
long for you is like Ōhara,
where the charcoal burns —
ever wishing "soon, oh soon,"
I go on smoldering with love
- Meaning
- My heart, longing for you, is like Ōhara where charcoal is burned: wishing only "soon, soon," it goes on smoldering without end.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 233
The poet entrusts his longing to Ōhara, a village famed for charcoal-burning. Overlaying his impatience to meet the beloved on charcoal slowly burning, he wittily expresses the frustration of a heart consumed by love.
This poem opens the second book of love poems. The book that begins with a heart smoldering in love closes with the final poem, 271, which wishes that longing itself did not exist.
The first line, "kimi o waga" (you, I), names the beloved first and leads into "omou kokoro" (the heart that longs) of the second line.
The second line, "omou kokoro wa," sets the longing heart as the topic with "wa."
The third line, "Ōhara ya," names a poetic place in Yamashiro Province known as a charcoal-burning village. The interjectory "ya" presents the name with feeling and calls up the charcoal-burning of the final line.
The fourth line, "itsushika to nomi" (only "soon, soon"), uses "nomi" to stress the single-mindedness of a heart that cannot wait.
The final line, "sumiyakaretsutsu," overlays charcoal being burned at Ōhara with a heart burning with longing, and in answer to "itsushika" also echoes "sumiyaka" (swift). The continuative "tsutsu" closes the poem on a heart that keeps smoldering.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Koiwabite hitori fuseya ni yomosugara otsuru namida ya Otonashi no taki
- Next Poem
-
Waga koi wa aisomete koso masarikere Shikama no kachi no iro naranedomo