暮るる間も定めなき世に逢ふことを
いつとも知らで恋ひわたるかな
いつとも知らで恋ひわたるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Kururu ma mo sadamenaki yo ni au koto o itsu tomo shirade koiwataru kana
- English Translation
-
In this world so frail
not even till nightfall is sure,
the day we shall meet
I know not when it may be,
yet still I go on loving
- Meaning
- In this uncertain world, where nothing is sure even until the day grows dark, I go on loving you, not knowing when we will ever meet.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 431
In a fleeting world where one cannot know what will happen even before the day grows dark, the poet goes on loving without knowing when they will meet. Overlaying the impermanence of the world on the endless waiting of love, the poem conveys a forlorn heart.
Poem 466 in this book uses the same words itsu tomo in au koto wa itsu tomo nakute, lamenting years that pass without knowing when they will meet. Where this poem takes the close of a single day as its measure, that poem takes the passing years, treating the same theme on a different span of time.
The author, Ryūgen, was a son of Fujiwara no Michimune and a monk known as the Ajari of Wakasa. He was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.
First line, 'kururu ma mo', means even in the time until the day grows dark, the particle mo adding the sense of even within one day.
Second line, 'sadamenaki yo ni', means in this uncertain, fleeting world.
Third line, 'au koto o', means meeting my beloved.
Fourth line, 'itsu tomo shirade', means not knowing when, using the negative connective de. It answers itsu tomo nakute in the second line of poem 466 in this book.
Final line, 'koiwataru kana', means I go on loving, the same words as koiwataru in the first line of poem 422 and koiwataru kana in the final line of poem 509 in this book.
- Author
- Ryūgen
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Omowamu to tanomeshi hito no mukashi ni mo arazu Naruto no urameshiki kana
- Next Poem
-
Hitogokoro asasawamizu no nezeri koso koru bakari ni mo tsumamahoshikere