見し人はひとり我が身に添はねども
後れぬものは涙なりけり
後れぬものは涙なりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Mishi hito wa hitori waga mi ni sowanedomo okurenu mono wa namida narikeri
- English Translation
-
Those I used to know,
not one of them stays beside
me any longer,
yet the one thing never left
behind me are my tears
- Meaning
- Of those I once knew, not a single one remains at my side, yet the one thing that never falls behind me is my tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 576
Not one of those the poet once held dear stays by his side, yet what follows him without ever falling behind is his tears. In the loneliness of having been left behind by those close to him, or parted from them, he laments that only tears never leave him.
The author, Gyōson, was a son of the Consultant Minamoto no Motohira. A monk of Onjōji who rose to Archbishop, he was also renowned as a mountain ascetic.
First line, 'mishi hito wa', means those I once saw and knew, using shi, the attributive of the past ki.
Second line, 'hitori waga mi ni', means not one to my side.
Third line, 'sowanedomo', means though they do not stay beside me, the realis of the negative zu followed by the concessive domo.
Fourth line, 'okurenu mono wa', means the thing that does not lag behind, okuru also meaning to be left behind by the dead, pairing with sowanedomo in the third line.
Final line, 'namida narikeri', means it is my tears, the exclamatory keri closing on the realization that only tears remain.
- Author
- Gyōson
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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