かくばかり恋の病は重けれど
目にかけさけて逢はぬ君かな
目にかけさけて逢はぬ君かな
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku bakari koi no yamai wa omokeredo me ni kakesakete awanu kimi kana
- English Translation
-
Though the sickness
of my love has grown so heavy,
you weigh it on the scale
and, measuring, turn aside—
you who never come to me
- Meaning
- Heavy as this sickness of love has grown, you seem to weigh it on a scale and turn away, never coming to meet me.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Love Poems II 513
Heavy as her lovesickness has grown, the beloved avoids her and will not meet, as if he had weighed it on a scale. Stringing together omoshi, heavy, me, the marks of a scale, and kake, to weigh, as related words, the poem expresses the irony that the heavier the sickness, the more one is avoided.
The author, Kodaishin of the Hanazono Minister of the Left's Household, was a lady-in-waiting in the house of Minamoto no Arihito, known as the Hanazono Minister of the Left. She is said to have been a daughter of Mitsukiyo, superintendent of the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine.
First line, 'kaku bakari', means so very much.
Second line, 'koi no yamai wa', means the sickness of love.
Third line, 'omokeredo', means though it is heavy, using the concessive do. It calls to mind a scale for weighing.
Fourth line, 'me ni kakesakete', means weighing it on the scale and avoiding me, me and kake forming words related to the scale together with omoshi in the third line. Saku means to avoid.
Final line, 'awanu kimi kana', means you who will not meet me, closing with the exclamatory kana.
- Author
- Hanazono no Sadaijin-ke no Kodaishin
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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