涙さへ出でにし方を眺めつつ
心にもあらぬ月を見しかな
心にもあらぬ月を見しかな
- Roma-ji
-
Namida sae idenishi kata o nagametsutsu kokoro ni mo aranu tsuki o mishi kana
- English Translation
-
My tears too spilling,
I gazed on toward the place
where you had gone out,
and so, against my heart's will,
I found I had seen the moon
- Meaning
- With tears spilling too, I kept gazing toward where you had gone, and so, without meaning to, I found myself looking at the moon.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 250
Gazing in tears toward where her lover had gone, the poet finds she has been looking at a moon she never meant to watch. The phrase "kokoro ni mo aranu tsuki" (a moon not in my heart) vividly reveals where her heart truly was: not on the moon, but on the direction he had taken.
The first line, "namida sae" (even my tears), adds with "sae" that not only he but her tears too went out.
The second line, "idenishi kata o," uses the perfective "nu" and past "ki" to overlay tears coming out with the direction in which he left.
The third line, "nagametsutsu," uses the continuative "tsutsu" for gazing absently, lost in thought.
The fourth line, "kokoro ni mo aranu" (not as my heart intended), shows she had no wish to look at the moon.
The final line, "tsuki o mishi kana," ends with the attributive past "shi" and exclamatory "kana": I found I had seen the moon.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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