人知れずもの思ふことはならひにき
花に別れぬ春しなければ
花に別れぬ春しなければ
- Roma-ji
-
Hito shirezu mono omou koto wa narainiki hana ni wakarenu haru shi nakereba
- English Translation
-
To brood unseen, alone,
over sorrows in my heart
I have grown used to —
for there has never been a spring
without parting from the flowers
- Meaning
- I have grown used to brooding in secret over my sorrows, for there has never been a spring without parting from the blossoms.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 312
Having parted from the blossoms every spring, the poet says she has grown used to brooding unseen. She overlays the yearly sorrow of losing the flowers on the sorrows of her own life.
Poem 316 of this book also uses "naraikeri," showing the same idea of learning hardship.
The first line, "hito shirezu" (unknown to others), means in secret.
The second line, "mono omou koto wa," refers to brooding and singles it out with "wa."
The third line, "narainiki," combines the perfective "nu" and past "ki": I have grown used to it, with a break after the third line.
The fourth line, "hana ni wakarenu," uses the attributive negative: without parting from the blossoms.
The final line, "haru shi nakereba," uses the intensifier "shi" and a conditional of certainty to give, by inversion, the reason: since there is no such spring.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Ayamegusa kari ni mo kuramu mono yue ni neya no tsuma to ya hito no miruramu
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Omowarenu sora no keshiki o miru kara ni ware mo shigururu kannazuki kana