早くより浅き心と見てしかば
思ひ絶えにき山川の水
思ひ絶えにき山川の水
- Roma-ji
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Hayaku yori asaki kokoro to miteshikaba omoitaeniki yamakawa no mizu
- English Translation
-
From early on
I saw that yours was a heart
shallow as can be,
so I gave up all my love—
water of a mountain stream
- Meaning
- From early on I saw your heart was shallow, so I let my love run dry, like water in a mountain stream.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Love Poems II 477
Having seen early on that the beloved's heart was shallow, the poet has already broken off her love, like the shallow water of a mountain stream. Likening the other's heart to the shallow flow of a mountain stream, the poem conveys a heart that gave up on love early.
First line, 'hayaku yori', means from early on, echoing the swiftness of a mountain stream.
Second line, 'asaki kokoro to', means as a shallow heart, a word related to the mountain stream in the final line.
Third line, 'miteshikaba', means since I saw it so, with the perfective tsu and shika, the perfective form of the past ki, followed by ba.
Fourth line, 'omoitaeniki', means I gave up my love, the perfective nu followed by the past ki, the poem breaking after the fourth line. Tae also echoes a stream running dry.
Final line, 'yamakawa no mizu', means the water of a mountain stream, standing for a shallow heart and closing on a noun.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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