心ぐきものにぞありける春霞たなびく時に戀の繁きは
kökörö guki
monö ni zö arikeru
parugasumi
tanabiku töki ni
kopï nö sigëki pa |
A pain upon my heart
It is
When spring haze
Streams
Around my verdant love. |
海山も隔たらなくに何しかも目言をだにもここだ乏しき
umiyama mo
pedataranaku ni
nani sikamo
mekötö wo dani mo
kököda tömosiki |
Sea-girt peaks
Stand not in our way, so
Why should it be
That a glimpse and a word alone
Should come so rarely? |
靑山を橫ぎる雲のいちしろく我れと笑まして人に知らゆな
awoyama wo
yökögiru kumo nö
itisiroku
ware tö wemasite
pitö ni sirayu na |
A blue mountain
With drifting cloud,
How plainly
You do smile at me;
Let not others see! |
うつくしと我が思ふ心速川の塞きに塞くともなほや崩えなむ
urupasi tö
a ga omopu kökörö
payakapa nö
seki ni seku tömo
napo ya kuenamu |
How fine you are!
So thinks my heart
In a rushing torrent
And though I dam it up,
Soon, ’tis sure to burst. |
このころは千年や行きも過ぎぬると我れやしか思ふ見まく欲りかも
könö körö pa
titose ya yuki mo
suginuru tö
ware ya sika omopu
mimaku pori ka mo |
Recently
A thousand years or more
Had passed –
Or so I thought;
Perhaps because I long to see you. |
人言を繁みか君が二鞘の家を隔てて戀ひつつまさむ
pitögötö wo
sigëmi ka kimi ga
puta saya nö
ipe wo pedatete
kopitutu masamu |
Is it people’s talk
So lush – that you,
The twin-scabbard
Of your house a hindrance,
Must yearn for me? |
今は我は死なむよ我が背生けりとも我れに依るべしと言ふといはなくに
Seven Poems by Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue.
言ふ言の畏き國ぞ紅の色にな出でそ思ひ死ぬとも
ipu kötö nö
Kasikoki kuni zö
Kurenawi nö
Iro ni na ide sö
Omopi sinu tö mo |
What is said
Brings dread, in this land:
In scarlet
Colours, don’t go out,
Die from your desire though you might. |
[One of] two poems sent by Lady Ōtomo of Sakanoue to her daughter, the Elder Maiden, from her estate at Taketa.
うち渡す武田の原に鳴く鶴の閒なく時なし我が戀ふらくは
utiwatasu
taketa nö para ni
naku tadu nö
ma naku töki nasi
a ga kopuraku pa |
Gazing out across
The field at Taketa,
The calling of the cranes
Is constant
As is my love. |
玉守に玉は授けてかつがつも枕と我れはいざふたり寢む
tamamori ni
tama pa sadukete
katugatu mo
makura tö ware pa
iza futari nemu |
To a gem-guard
Have I entrusted my jewel;
There’s nought to do
But with my pillow
Sleep, the two of us together. |
'Simply moving and elegant'