心こそ世をば捨てしか幻の
姿も人に忘られにけり
姿も人に忘られにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Kokoro koso yo o ba suteshika maboroshi no sugata mo hito ni wasurarenikeri
- English Translation
-
It was my heart alone
that cast away the world, yet
my form, like a dream
fading, has also slipped
from the memory of men
- Meaning
- It was only my heart that renounced the world, yet even this fleeting, phantom-like form of mine has been forgotten by others.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 587
It was only his heart, the poet says, that had renounced the world, yet even his fleeting, phantom-like form has been forgotten by others. Though having taken vows and left the world in spirit, he feels the loneliness of being forgotten bodily too, expressing the solitude of an ascetic.
In poem 536 in this book as well, the poet sings of the loneliness of being forgotten, asking who would remember 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, 'kokoro koso', means my heart alone, the particle koso answered by shika in the second line.
Second line, 'yo o ba suteshika', means it cast away the world, but, shika, the realis of the past ki, answering koso and leading on to the lower verse with a concessive turn.
Third line, 'maboroshi no', means fleeting as a phantom.
Fourth line, 'sugata mo hito ni', means even my form by others, pairing with kokoro in the first line.
Final line, 'wasurarenikeri', means has been forgotten, the passive ru with the perfective nu and the exclamatory keri.
- Author
- Gyōson
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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