はみ上る鮎住む川の瀬を早み
早くや君に恋ひ渡りなむ
早くや君に恋ひ渡りなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Hami noboru ayu sumu kawa no se o hayami hayaku ya kimi ni koiwatarinamu
- English Translation
-
Sweetfish feed and climb
the river where they dwell,
its shallows swift;
so swiftly, then, for you
shall I go on longing?
- Meaning
- Swift are the shallows of the river where sweetfish feed as they swim upstream; so swiftly, then, shall I go on longing for you?
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 419
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
From the swift shallows of the river where sweetfish climb upstream as they feed, the poet draws the word "swiftly" and asks whether he will so swiftly come to long for his beloved without end. The force of the current is laid over a love that flares at once.
The Ruijū text places it in the section of poems found in another manuscript and in printed editions.
Line 1 means "feeding as they climb upstream."
Line 2 means "the river where sweetfish live."
Line 3 means "since the shallows are swift," o ... mi expressing cause; the first three lines form a preface leading to the homophonous hayaku.
Line 4: ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded by namu in line 5. The repetition of hayami and hayaku gives the poem its rhythm.
Line 5 means "shall I go on longing," wataru meaning to continue over time.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Okuyama no kusa fuminarasu saoshika mo fukaki kokoro no hodo wa shiranamu
- Next Poem
-
Kimi ni koi urabure oreba akikaze ni nabiku asaji no tsuyu zo kenubeki