目に近く移ればかはる世の中を行くすゑとほくたのみけるかな
me ni chikaku
utsureba kawaru
yo no naka o
yukusue tōku
tanomikeru kana | Within my sight
Revealed, but changing
Is this mundane world that
Into the distant future
I had placed my trust! |
Murasaki no ue
Created with Soan.
鈴虫の声のかぎりを尽しても長き夜あかずふる涙かな
suzumushi no
koe no kagiri o
tsukushitemo
nagaki yo akazu
furu namida kana | The bell-crickets
The very limits of their song
Have exhausted, but
This long night, unending is
The falling of my tears! |
Yugei no myōbu
Created with Soan.
きくの露わかゆばかりにそでふれて花のあるじに千代はゆづらむ
kiku no tsuyu
wakayu bakari ni
sode furete
hana no aruji ni
chiyo wa yuzuramu | Chrysanthemum dew a little
Youth, just, will
Bring to my sleeves;
To the flower’s mistress
I would gift a thousand generations! |
人にまだをられぬものをたれにこのすきものぞとはくちならしけん
hito ni mada
orarenu mono o
tare ka kono
sukimono zo to wa
kuchinarashiken | No man has yet
To pick me, so
Who is it that might have
A sour but saucy
Taste within his mouth? |
Murasaki Shikibu
すき物と名にしたてればみる人のをらですぐるはあらじとぞおもふ
sukimono to
na ni shi tatereba
miru hito no
orade suguru wa
araji to zo omou | Sour but saucy
Is what folk say, so
At the sight, there’s no man
Would pass by and not pick one up—
Of that I’m sure! |
Michinaga
しら露はわきてもおかじをみなへし心からにや色のそむらむ
shiratsuyu wa
wakite mo okaji
ominaeshi
kokoro kara ni ya
iro no somuramu | Silver dewdrops
Fall where they will, so
Surely, ’tis the maidenflower’s
Own heart that
Stains her with such hues? |
Michinaga
をみなへしさかりの色をみるからにつゆのわきける身こそしらるれ
ominaeshi
sakari no iro o
miru kara ni
tsuyu no wakikeru
mi koso shirarure | This maidenflower’s
Vibrant hues
I see, and
That the dew makes no difference
To me—how well I know it! |
Murasaki Shikibu
けふのまの心にかへておもひやれながめつつのみすぐす心を
kyō no ma no
kokoro ni kaete
omoiyare
nagametsutsu nomi
sugusu kokoro o | One day long last
Your feelings, but instead
Imagine:
Ever gazing simply at the falling rain
Spending time so—how might one feel? |
Izumi Shikibu
うちいででもありにしものを中中にくるしきまでもなげくけふかな
uchi’idedemo
arinishi mono o
nakanaka ni
kurushiki made mo
nageku kyō kana | So open
Was I that
In extreme
Agonies of
Grief am I today! |
Prince Atsumichi
おなじ枝になきつつをりしほととぎすこゑはかはらぬものとしらずや
onaji e ni
nakitsutsu orishi
hototogisu
koe wa kawaranu
mono to shirazu ya | On the same branch,
Always singing was
This cuckoo, too,
His song ever unchanging—
Do you really not know that? |
Prince Atsumichi
'Simply moving and elegant'
