ありふるも憂き世なりけり長からぬ
人の心を命ともがな
人の心を命ともがな
- Roma-ji
-
Arifuru mo ukiyo narikeri nagakaranu hito no kokoro o inochi to mogana
- English Translation
-
Even living on
is a sorrow in this world,
so I wish that I
could take his heart that does not last
and make that my very life
- Meaning
- Even living on is sorrow in this world; I wish I could take that person's short-lived heart as my own life.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Variant Poems 690
Even living on is painful in this world, so the poet wishes the beloved's short-lived heart could be her life. If that heart changes so quickly, a life tied to it would soon end; the poem overlays resentment at a changed heart with the pain of living.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 390 in Book Seven. Love poems resenting the coldness of another's heart stand around it.
The author, Sagami, was a woman poet called Sagami because she became the wife of Ōe no Kinyori, Governor of Sagami; she later served Princess Shūshi. One of her poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, 'arifuru mo', means even living on.
Second line, 'ukiyo narikeri', means is this sorrowful world, closing with the exclamatory keri; the poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, 'nagakaranu', means that does not last, modifying hito no kokoro in the fourth line.
Fourth line, 'hito no kokoro o', means that person's heart, the fickle heart of the beloved.
Final line, 'inochi to mogana', means I wish it were my life, the particle mogana expressing a wish.
- Author
- Sagami
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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