山里の思ひかけぢにつららゐて
とくる心のかたげなるかな
とくる心のかたげなるかな
- Roma-ji
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Yamazato no omoikakeji ni tsurara ite tokuru kokoro no katage naru kana
- English Translation
-
On the mountain road
I tread with longing to your home
the ice has settled,
how it seems so hard to melt,
the heart that I hope will thaw
- Meaning
- Ice has formed on the mountain path I travel with my longing, and the heart I hope will thaw seems hard to soften.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Variant Poems 695
Ice has formed over the hanging path to a mountain village that the poet travels with longing, and as it seems unlikely to melt, the beloved's heart too seems unlikely to open. The steep winter path of the mountain village is overlaid with the coldness of the beloved's heart.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 458 in Book Eight. Poem 458 is a love poem on a forgotten stream lying still among the rocks.
First line, 'yamazato no', means of the mountain village.
Second line, 'omoikakeji ni', joins omoikaku, to set one's heart on, with kakeji, a path hung along a cliff.
Third line, 'tsurara ite', means ice having formed, the hard ice overlaid with the closed heart of the beloved.
Fourth line, 'tokuru kokoro no', joins tokuru, ice melting, with uchitokuru, a heart opening.
Final line, 'katage naru kana', means how hard it seems, closing with kana. Ice and melting are associated words.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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