ものをこそ忍べば言はぬ岩代の
森にのみもる我が涙かな
森にのみもる我が涙かな
- Roma-ji
-
Mono o koso shinobeba iwanu Iwashiro no mori ni nomi moru waga namida kana
- English Translation
-
Hiding what I feel,
I never speak of it, yet
as in Iwashiro
forest, all that leaks away
are my tears and only these
- Meaning
- Because I keep my love hidden I never speak of it, yet like drops in the forest of Iwashiro, my tears alone leak out.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Variant Poems 696
Because the poet keeps the feeling hidden, it is never spoken, yet like drops leaking in the forest of Iwashiro, whose name echoes iwanu, unspoken, the poet's tears alone spill out. The poem expresses a love never put into words that overflows as tears.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 462 in Book Eight. With the next poem, 697, between them, 463 in Book Eight laments a self afloat in tears, so poems on tears continue.
First line, 'mono o koso', means this longing indeed, the particle koso adding emphasis.
Second line, 'shinobeba iwanu', means since I hide it I do not speak, the realis with ba expressing a reason.
Third line, 'Iwashiro no', means of the forest of Iwashiro, a famous place, echoing iwanu in the second line.
Fourth line, 'mori ni nomi moru', means leaking only in the forest, moru, to leak, echoing mori, forest.
Final line, 'waga namida kana', means are my tears, closing with kana. Poem 463 in Book Eight also sings of tears.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Yamazato no omoikakeji ni tsurara ite tokuru kokoro no katage naru kana
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Tsurezure to omoi zo izuru mishi hito o awade ikutsuki nagameshitsuramu