老いらくの頭の雪をとどめ置きて
はかなの年や暮れてゆくらむ
はかなの年や暮れてゆくらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Oiraku no kashira no yuki o todomeokite hakana no toshi ya kurete yukuramu
- English Translation
-
On my aging head
leaving behind the snow,
letting it remain,
is the fleeting year, I wonder,
now drawing to its close?
- Meaning
- Leaving the snow of white hair on my aging head, is the fleeting year now slipping away to its close?
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 402
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The year's end"
Leaving only the snow of white hair upon his aging head, the poet wonders, is the fleeting year now drawing away to its close? Seeing the departing year leave white hair behind like a parting gift, he voices the lament of old age.
Line 1 means "of old age."
Line 2 is the snow settled on the head, a figure for white hair. In 392 too, the white head was likened to mountain snow.
Line 3 is hypermetric, "leaving it behind."
Line 4 names the fleeting year; ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded in line 5.
Line 5 concludes ya with the attributive of the present conjectural ramu, wondering whether the year is drawing to its close.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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