つれづれと荒れたる宿を眺むれば
月ばかりこそ昔なりけれ
月ばかりこそ昔なりけれ
- Roma-ji
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Tsurezure to aretaru yado o nagamureba tsuki bakari koso mukashi narikere
- English Translation
-
When idly I gaze
upon this dwelling of mine
that has gone to ruin,
it is the moon alone that
remains the way it was of old
- Meaning
- As I idly gaze at my ruined dwelling, only the moon remains as it was in the old days.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 308
Idly gazing at a dwelling gone to ruin, the poet realizes that amid all that has changed, only the moon is as it was. Contrasting the ruined house with the unchanging moon, the poem expresses nostalgia for days gone by.
Poem 290 of this book also says that the moon in the pond is unchanged while the one who gazes has changed, so the theme of the unchanging moon and the shifting human world recurs.
The first line, "tsurezure to," describes idleness with nothing to do.
The second line, "aretaru yado o," uses the attributive continuative "taru" for a dwelling gone to ruin.
The third line, "nagamureba," is a conditional of certainty: as I gaze.
The fourth line, "tsuki bakari koso" (only the moon), singles out the moon with "bakari" and "koso."
The final line, "mukashi narikere," closes "koso" with the copula "nari" and perfective exclamatory "keri," a kakari-musubi: only the moon is as of old. Poem 305 of this book also recalls the past through the moon.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Ōsaka no seki no sugihara shita harete tsuki no moru ni zo makasetarikeru
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Fukaku irite sumabaya to omou yama no ha o ikanaru tsuki no izuru naruramu