水鳥の鴨の浮き寝のうきながら
玉藻の床に幾夜経ぬらむ
玉藻の床に幾夜経ぬらむ
- Roma-ji
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Mizutori no kamo no ukine no uki nagara tamamo no toko ni ikuyo henuramu
- English Translation
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Like the waterfowl,
the wild duck's floating sleep,
in sorrow floating,
on a bed of jeweled weed,
how many nights have passed?
- Meaning
- Like a wild duck sleeping as it floats on the water, adrift in sorrow on a bed of lovely water weeds—how many nights have gone by?
- Commentary
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Winter Poems 358
Headnote: "Waterfowl"
This poem was composed on the theme of waterfowl. Like a wild duck that sleeps floating on the water, sorrowful and unsettled, how many nights has one spent on a bed of water weeds? In the floating sleep of the duck, the poet overlays the misery of passing night after night without rest.
The Ruijū text places this poem in the miscellaneous section.
Line 1, mizutori, is a general word for waterbirds, leading to the duck in line 2.
Line 2 is the duck's sleep afloat on the water; the lines up to here form a preface leading to uki in line 3.
Line 3: uki is a pivot word meaning both "floating" and "sorrowful."
Line 4 means "on a bed of lovely water weeds."
Line 5 combines the perfective nu and the present conjectural ramu, wondering how many nights have gone by.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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