思ひきや雲居の月をよそに見て
心の闇に惑ふべしとは
心の闇に惑ふべしとは
- Roma-ji
-
Omoiki ya kumoi no tsuki o yoso ni mite kokoro no yami ni madou beshi to wa
- English Translation
-
Did I ever think
I would see the palace moon
from so far away,
and stray lost within the dark
that clouds a parent's heart
- Meaning
- Did I ever think that I would watch the moon above the palace from afar and wander lost in the darkness of a parent's heart?
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 571
Never did the poet imagine, she says, that she would gaze from afar on the moon above the palace and wander lost in the darkness of a parent's heart. One who once watched the moon within the court now laments being far from it and astray in the darkness of a parent's love for a child.
Kokoro no yami, darkness of the heart, is known from the Gosen Wakashū poem by Fujiwara no Kanesuke, who says a parent's heart is not dark, yet loses its way on the path of love for a child, and refers to a parent's confusion. Following the preceding poem, 570, it represents the court through clouds and laments distance from it.
First line, 'omoiki ya', means did I ever think so? the past ki with ya forming a rhetorical question. The poem breaks after the first line and by inversion connects to to wa in the final line.
Second line, 'kumoi no tsuki o', means the moon above the clouds, kumoi standing for the court. Like kumoi no sakura in poem 526 in this book, it carries longing for the court.
Third line, 'yoso ni mite', means seeing it from afar as something apart.
Fourth line, 'kokoro no yami ni', means in the darkness of a parent's heart, the yami, darkness, pairing with the light of the moon in the second line.
Final line, 'madou beshi to wa', means that I would go astray, connecting by inversion to omoiki ya in the first line.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Urayamashi kumo no kakehashi tachikaeri futatabi noboru michi o shiraba ya
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Mi no usa mo tou hitokoto ni sekaretsutsu kokorozukushi no michi wa tomarinu