草枕旅にしあれば刈り薦の
思ひ乱れていこそ寝られぬ
思ひ乱れていこそ寝られぬ
- Roma-ji
-
Kusamakura tabi ni shi areba karigomo no omoi midarete i koso nerarenu
- English Translation
-
Grass for my pillow,
since I am out on a journey,
like cut rushes
my thoughts are all in tangles
and sleep will not come to me.
- Meaning
- Since I am on a journey with grass for my pillow, my thoughts are tangled like cut rushes, and I cannot sleep at all.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 564
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the heart of travel"
On the road, the poet's thoughts are so tangled that he cannot sleep. The disorder of cut rushes figures the restless heart of one sleeping away from home.
The Ruijū text places it in its travel section. One letter of line 5 is hard to read in the source as displayed and is here read i koso nerarenu.
Line 1, kusamakura, is a pillow word for "journey," shared with the preceding poem. Where that poem said not even dreams appear, this one gives the reason: a heart in turmoil.
Line 2 means "since I am on a journey."
Line 3, karigomo no, "of cut rushes," is a pillow word for "tangled."
Line 4 means "my thoughts in disorder."
Line 5 means "cannot sleep at all," i being a noun for sleep and koso an emphatic binding particle.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Kusamakura tabi ni shi areba imo ni koi nemuru ma o nami yume sae miezu
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Tabigoromo tamoto katashiki koyoi mo ya kusa no makura ni ware hitori nemu