月は入り人は出でなばとまりゐて
独りや我が空を眺めむ
独りや我が空を眺めむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuki wa iri hito wa idenaba tomariite hitori ya waga sora o nagamemu
- English Translation
-
When the moon has set
and you too have gone away,
left behind alone,
shall I then be the one who
gazes at the empty sky
- Meaning
- When the moon has set and you have gone, shall I be left behind, gazing alone at the sky?
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 289
When the moon sets and a dear companion departs, the poet wonders whether he will be left behind to gaze at the sky alone, grieving at the parting. Pairing the moon's "setting" with a person's "going out," the poem expresses loneliness before two things that leave together.
The first line, "tsuki wa iri" (the moon sets), refers to the moon sinking behind the hills and pairs with "ide" (going out) in the second line.
The second line, "hito wa idenaba," is a hypothetical with the irrealis of the perfective "nu" and "ba": if you have gone.
The third line, "tomariite" (remaining behind), sets the speaker who stays against the moon and person who leave.
The fourth line, "hitori ya waga," poses a question with "ya."
The final line, "sora o nagamemu," closes "ya" with the attributive conjectural "mu," a kakari-musubi asking whether he will gaze at the sky alone.
- Author
- Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Na ni takaki Obasuteyama mo mishikadomo koyoi bakari no tsuki wa nakariki
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Ikemizu ni yadoreru tsuki wa sore nagara nagamuru hito no kage zo kawareru