後れ居て我が恋ひ居れば白雲の
たなびく山を今日や越ゆらむ
たなびく山を今日や越ゆらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Okure ite waga koioreba shirakumo no tanabiku yama o kyō ya koyuramu
- English Translation
-
Left behind I stay,
and as I long for you,
where the white clouds
trail across the mountains,
are you crossing them today
- Meaning
- Left behind, I sit longing for you; are you, I wonder, crossing today the mountains where the white clouds trail?
- Commentary
-
Book Six Parting Poems 337
One who stays behind, longing for the traveler, imagines that today the traveler must be crossing far mountains where white clouds trail. From the standpoint of one who remains in the capital, the poem entrusts the traveler's lengthening road to the cloud-hung mountains.
A nearly identical poem appears in the Man'yōshū, making this a parting poem handed down from old times.
After the preceding poem, 336, sang of the tears of those seeing someone off, this poem sings of the heart that follows the traveler after the farewell. The closing poem of this book, 349, by contrast, was sent to the capital by one setting out.
First line, 'okure ite', means staying behind, showing the place of one left by the traveler. 'Okureneba' in poem 340 in this book sings of the moon that does not lag behind the traveler, forming a contrast with this poem.
Second line, 'waga koioreba', means as I long for you, the realis with ba forming a definite condition.
Third line, 'shirakumo no', means of the white clouds, an image suggesting a distant land.
Fourth line, 'tanabiku yama o', means the mountains where clouds trail.
Final line, 'kyō ya koyuramu', means are you crossing them today, the particle ya binding with the attributive of the present conjecture ramu.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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