つらきをも思ひも知らぬ身のほどに
恋しさいかで忘れざるらむ
恋しさいかで忘れざるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuraki o mo omoi mo shiranu mi no hodo ni koishisa ikade wasurezaruramu
- English Translation
-
Though I cannot learn
to feel your coldness for what
it is, such as I am,
why is it that my longing
will not let itself be forgotten
- Meaning
- Such as I am, unable even to take your coldness to heart, why is it that I cannot forget this longing for you?
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 437
Though he cannot even come to know the beloved's coldness for what it is, the poet wonders why he cannot forget his longing. Unable to grasp the other's indifference to the full, he laments, in the form of puzzled wonder, a heart in which only longing remains.
The author, Nakamasa, is Minamoto no Nakamasa. A son of Minamoto no Yoritsuna and the father of Minamoto no Yorimasa, he was active as a poet from the time of Emperor Horikawa.
First line, 'tsuraki o mo', means even your coldness.
Second line, 'omoi mo shiranu', means not even coming to know.
Third line, 'mi no hodo ni', means being such as I am, the particle ni carrying a concessive sense.
Fourth line, 'koishisa ikade', means why is my longing, using the questioning adverb ikade.
Final line, 'wasurezaruramu', means why do I not forget, with zaru, the attributive of the negative zu, followed by the conjectural ramu, which answers ikade in the fourth line and guesses at the cause.
- Author
- Minamoto no Nakamasa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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