いかにせむ憂き世の中にすみがまの
果ては煙となりぬべき身を
果ては煙となりぬべき身を
- Roma-ji
-
Ika ni semu ukiyo no naka ni sumigama no hate wa keburi to narinubeki mi o
- English Translation
-
What am I to do,
living in this world of grief
like the charcoal kiln,
this body that in the end
must surely turn into smoke
- Meaning
- What am I to do with this self, living in this sorrowful world like a charcoal kiln, destined in the end to become smoke?
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Variant Poems 707
What is to be done, the poet asks, with this body that, living on in this sorrowful world, must in the end become the smoke of cremation, as charcoal in a kiln turns to smoke? Joining sumi, living, with sumigama, a charcoal kiln, the poem laments the fleeting fate of the self.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 628 in Book Ten. Poem 629 in Book Ten, which follows, says that the sorrowful world is the same wherever one goes, sharing ukiyo with this poem. Poems 621 and 622 in Book Ten also sing of the smoke of cremation.
First line, 'ika ni semu', means what am I to do, using the conjectural mu; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, 'ukiyo no naka ni', means in this sorrowful world. It echoes onaji ukiyo o in the final line of 629 in Book Ten.
Third line, 'sumigama no', joins sumi, living in the world, with sumigama, a charcoal kiln.
Fourth line, 'hate wa keburi to', means in the end into smoke, overlaying the smoke of the kiln with the smoke of cremation. It echoes keburi to omoeba in the final line of 622 in Book Ten.
Final line, 'narinubeki mi o', means this body that must become, the perfective nu with the attributive of beshi. It is inverted with the first line. Kiln and smoke are associated words.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Mushi no ne wa kono aki shimo zo nakimasaru wakare no tōku naru kokochi shite
- Next Poem
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Tsumi wa shimo tsuyu mo nokorazu kienuramu nagaki yosugara kuyuru omoi ni