いたづらに過ぐる月日を数ふれば
昔を偲ぶ音こそ泣かるれ
昔を偲ぶ音こそ泣かるれ
- Roma-ji
-
Itazura ni suguru tsukihi o kazoureba mukashi o shinobu ne koso nakarure
- English Translation
-
When I count the months
and the days that have gone by
all to no purpose,
longing for the times long past
I cannot help but weep aloud
- Meaning
- When I count the months and days that have slipped by in vain, I cannot help weeping aloud as I long for the days of old.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 598
Counting the months and days that have passed in vain with nothing achieved, the poet cannot help weeping aloud as he longs for the past. Thinking of the years idly gone by, he expresses a heart moved to tears in recalling brighter days of old.
It uses the same line, kazoureba, as the third line of poem 562 in this book, lamenting as it counts the years gone by. Where 562 counted years of service and lamented old age, this poem counts months and days passed in vain and longs for the past.
The author, Moroyori, is Minamoto no Moroyori. A son of the Minister of the Left Minamoto no Toshifusa, he rose to Major Counselor and was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.
First line, 'itazura ni', means in vain.
Second line, 'suguru tsukihi o', means the months and days that pass.
Third line, 'kazoureba', means when I count, the realis followed by ba. It is the same line as the third line of poem 562 in this book.
Fourth line, 'mukashi o shinobu', means longing for the past.
Final line, 'ne koso nakarure', means I cannot help weeping aloud, the particle koso answered by rure, the realis of the spontaneous ru.
- Author
- Minamoto no Moroyori
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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