道の辺の小野の夕霧たちかへり
見てこそ行かめ秋萩の花
見てこそ行かめ秋萩の花
- Roma-ji
-
Michinobe no ono no yūgiri tachikaeri mite koso yukame akihagi no hana
- English Translation
-
By the roadside here,
where the evening mist rises
on the little moor,
I'll turn back, and see them well
before I go—the autumn clover.
- Meaning
- As evening mist rises on the moor by the road, I will turn back and look well before I go at these flowers of the autumn clover.
- Commentary
-
Autumn Poems 209
Headnote: "Bush clover by the roadside"
As evening mist rises over the moor by the road, the poet resolves to turn back and look well at the autumn bush clover he had almost passed before going on. Drawn by the beauty of the clover glimpsed on his way, he frankly expresses his reluctance to leave.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.
Line 1, "by the roadside," presents the topic.
Line 2: ono means a moor, with o a prefix; up to here the lines form a preface leading, through the mist that "rises," to tachikaeri.
Line 3, tachikaeri, is a pivot word meaning both the evening mist "rising" and "turning back."
Line 4 concludes the binding particle koso with me, the evaluative form of the volitional mu, and the poem pauses here.
Line 5 ends on a noun, giving last, through inversion, what is to be seen. Against the clover no one saw in the preceding poem, 208, here is one who would turn back to see it, so unseen and seen flowers form a pair.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Furusato no motoara no kohagi itazura ni miru hito nashimi saki ka chiruramu
- Next Poem
-
Hagi no hana kuregure made mo aritsuru ga tsuki idete miru ni naki wa kanashiki