MYS III: 466

Another poem by Yakamochi, with tanka.

我がやどに 花ぞ咲きたる そを見れど 心もゆかず はしきやし 妹がありせば 水鴨なす ふたり竝び居 手折りても 見せましものを うつせみの 借れる身なれば 露霜の 消ぬるがごとく あしひきの 山道をさして 入日なす 隱りにしかば そこ思ふに 胸こそ痛き 言ひもえず 名づけも知らず 跡もなき 世閒にあれば 爲むすべもなし

wa ga yado ni
pana zö sakitaru
so wo miredö
kökörö mu yukazu
pasikiyasi
imo ga ariseba
mikamo nasu
putari narabiwi
taworitemo
misemasi monö wo
utusemi nö
kareru mï nareba
tuyu simo nö
kinuru ga götöku
asipiki nö
yamadi wo sasite
iripi nasu
kakuri ni sikaba
sökö omopu ni
mune kösö itaki
ipi mo ezu
naduke mo sirazu
ato mo naki
yo nö naka ni areba
semusube mo nasi
At my home
The blossoms have flowered,
Yet the sight
Does not ease my heart.
If my sweet
Darling were here,
Like mated ducks
Paired side-by-side, we’d be;
And if I plucked a spray,
I would want to show it to her.
As a cicada shell
Is our fleeting flesh;
As dew and frost
It disappears;
The foot-wearying
Mountain paths she trod and,
As the setting sun,
Vanished.
Thinking on it,
Hurts my breast;
I cannot speak
I know not what name to give;
Not a trace will be left
Of the world of men, so
There’s nothing to be done.

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