沖つ鳥鵜の住む石に寄る波の
間なくも思ふ我ぞ悲しき
間なくも思ふ我ぞ悲しき
- Roma-ji
-
Okitsudori u no sumu ishi ni yoru nami no manaku mo omou ware zo kanashiki
- English Translation
-
Like the waves that break
on the rocks where cormorants dwell,
birds of the open sea,
without a pause I long—
how sorrowful am I.
- Meaning
- Like the waves breaking on the rocks where the cormorants of the open sea make their home, I long without pause, and how sorrowful I am.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 443
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
Like waves breaking ceaselessly on the rocks where cormorants dwell, the poet longs without rest and grieves over himself. With a Man'yō-style preface, the endlessness of the waves is laid over the endlessness of longing.
Line 1, okitsudori, "bird of the open sea," serves as a pillow word for u, "cormorant."
Line 2 means "on the rocks where cormorants dwell," continuing waterside birds after the ducks of the preceding poem.
Line 3 means "like the waves that come in," and the first three lines form a preface leading to manaku.
Line 4 means "longing without pause."
Line 5: zo binds the attributive kanashiki.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Ashigamo no sawagu irie no ukikusa no ukite ya mono o omoiwataramu
- Next Poem
-
Kamome iru ariso no susaki shio michite kakuroi yukeba masaru waga koi