白髪と言ひ老いぬるけにや事しあれば
年の早くも思ほゆるかな
年の早くも思ほゆるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Shiraga to ii oinuru ke ni ya koto shi areba toshi no hayaku mo omōyuru kana
- English Translation
-
With my hair gone white,
perhaps since I have grown old,
at every turn
how swiftly the years go by,
or so it seems to me.
- Meaning
- Is it because my hair has turned white and I have grown old? At every turn the years seem to slip by so quickly.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 393
Headnote: "An old man grieving over the year's end"
This poem was composed on the theme of an old man grieving over the year's end. Perhaps because his hair has turned white and he has grown old, the poet sings, at every turn the years seem to pass so quickly. He sings the flow of time that seems to hasten with age.
According to the source's note, another manuscript gives line 1 as shiraga oi. This edition follows the source text. The Ruijū text places this poem and the three after it in the miscellaneous section.
Line 1 is hypermetric, "what with my white hair."
Line 2: ke means "because of," giving "perhaps because I have grown old."
Line 3 is hypermetric, "whenever something happens," with shi an emphatic particle.
Line 4 means "the year so quickly."
Line 5: kana is exclamatory, closing with "so it naturally seems." The next poem ends with the same line.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Toshi fureba samuki shimo koso saekerashi kōbe wa yama no yuki naranaku ni
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Oinureba toshi no kureyuku tabigoto ni waga mi hitotsu to omōyuru kana