名きくよりかねても移る心かな
いかにしてかは逢ふべかるらむ
いかにしてかは逢ふべかるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Na kiku yori kanete mo utsuru kokoro kana ika ni shite ka wa aubekaruramu
- English Translation
-
Hearing just your name,
like a chrysanthemum turning,
my heart turns already;
by what means, I wonder,
shall I ever come to meet you
- Meaning
- From the moment I heard your name, my heart turned to you, as a chrysanthemum changes its hue; how, I wonder, will I ever meet you?
- Commentary
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Book Eight Love Poems II 464
Merely hearing the beloved's name, the poet's heart has already turned to her before they have met; how can they ever meet? Using kiku, to hear and chrysanthemum, as a pivot word, the poem expresses through the chrysanthemum whose color changes a love drawn on by rumor alone.
First line, 'na kiku yori', is a pivot word in which kiku means both hearing a name and the chrysanthemum, left in kana. It means from the time I heard your name.
Second line, 'kanete mo utsuru', means turns beforehand, the heart turning toward the other before they have met. Utsuru echoes the changing color of the chrysanthemum and is a word related to it in the first line.
Third line, 'kokoro kana', means such is my heart, the poem breaking after the third line with the exclamatory kana.
Fourth line, 'ika ni shite ka wa', means by what means, the particle ka wa answered by ramu in the final line.
Final line, 'aubekaruramu', means might I meet you, the potential beshi followed by the conjectural ramu, closing in answer to ka wa in the fourth line.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Asamashiku namida ni ukabu waga mi kana kokoro karuku wa omowazarishi o
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Koiwabite taenu omoi no keburi mo ya munashiki sora no kumo to naruramu