かづきけむ袂は雨にいかがせし
濡るるはさても思ひ知れかし
濡るるはさても思ひ知れかし
- Roma-ji
-
Kazukikemu tamoto wa ame ni ikaga seshi nururu wa satemo omoishire kashi
- English Translation
-
That sleeve you wore
held over your head, I hear —
how did it fare in the rain?
What it is to be soaked through,
now, at least, you ought to know
- Meaning
- The sleeve you held over your head — how did it fare in the rain? Now, at least, you ought to understand what it means to be wet through.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 317
To one who seems to have come through the rain with a sleeve held over the head, the poet asks how the sleeve fared and urges an understanding of what it is to be soaked. Overlaying the rain-soaked sleeve with a sleeve wet with tears, the poem appeals the pain of the one who waits.
The first line, "kazukikemu," adds the hearsay past "kemu" to "kazuku" (to cover the head): the sleeve you are said to have worn over your head.
The second line, "tamoto wa ame ni," singles out the sleeve with "wa."
The third line, "ikaga seshi," uses the attributive past "shi" to ask how it fared, with a break after the third line.
The fourth line, "nururu wa satemo," means "being wet," continuing with "satemo" (at least by this).
The final line, "omoishire kashi," ends with the imperative "omoishire" and the emphatic "kashi": you ought to understand.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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