折々のつらさを何に嘆きけむ
やがて亡き世もあはれありけり
やがて亡き世もあはれありけり
- Roma-ji
-
Oriori no tsurasa o nani ni nagekikemu yagate naki yo mo aware arikeri
- English Translation
-
Why did I lament
the coldness you would show me
time and time again?
Now that you are gone, I see
there was tenderness in it too
- Meaning
- Why did I grieve so over your coldness, time after time? Now that you are gone, I see that even then there was tenderness.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 405
The poet grieved now and again over the beloved's coldness while they lived, but now that they have died, wonders why he grieved so and realizes there was tenderness even in those painful days. The poem holds love and regret discovered only after loss.
The first line, "oriori no," means of those various times.
The second line, "tsurasa o nani ni," refers to the other's coldness and asks "why" with "nani ni."
The third line, "nagekikemu," uses the past conjectural "kemu": why did I grieve? A break falls after the third line.
The fourth line, "yagate naki yo mo," uses the adverb "yagate": the world now that you have gone.
The final line, "aware arikeri," ends with the exclamatory "keri": there was tenderness, I see.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Namida nomi tamoto ni kakaru yo no naka ni mi sae kuchinuru koto zo kanashiki
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Hito o tou kane no koe koso aware nare itsu ka waga mi ni naramu to suramu