返さじとかねて知りにき唐衣
恋しかるべき我が身ならねば
恋しかるべき我が身ならねば
- Roma-ji
-
Kaesaji to kanete shiriniki karakoromo koishikarubeki waga mi naraneba
- English Translation
-
That you would not turn
it back, I knew long before:
the Chinese robe—
for I am not one whom you
would ever think to long for
- Meaning
- I knew all along you would not turn your robe inside out for me, for I am not someone you would ever long for.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 549
The poet knew all along, she says, that you would not turn the robe, for she is not someone you would long for. Drawing on the folk belief that sleeping with one's robe turned inside out lets one see a beloved in dreams, it overlays the turning of the robe with the other's lack of longing for her, and expresses a sulking heart.
Kane, the bell, in the final line of the preceding poem, 548, and kanete in the second line of this poem echo each other in sound.
First line, 'kaesaji to', means that you would not turn it back, using the negative conjectural ji. It is a related word to karakoromo in the third line.
Second line, 'kanete shiriniki', means I knew beforehand, the perfective nu followed by the past ki; the poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, 'karakoromo', means a fine robe, drawing on the belief that sleeping in a robe turned inside out brings a beloved into one's dreams.
Fourth line, 'koishikarubeki', means one who would be longed for, the attributive of beshi modifying waga mi in the final line.
Final line, 'waga mi naraneba', means since I am not such a person, the realis of the negative zu followed by ba giving the reason, closing in inverted form after the second line.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Kamigaki no atari to omou ni yūdasuki omoi mo kakenu kane no koe kana
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Ōeyama Ikuno no michi no tōkereba mada fumi mo mizu Ama no Hashidate