Topic unknown.
津國のこやとも人をいふべきに隙こそなけれ蘆の八重葺
| tu no kuni no koya to mo Fito wo iFubeki ni Fima koso nakere asi no yaFebuki |
‘In the Land of Tsu Is Koya-come on!’ Is what folk Should say, I think, yet There’s not a moment free between The many layers of reed-thatch. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed the following morning, when someone expected failed to come.
おきながら明しつるかなともねせぬ鴨の上毛の霜ならなくに
| okinagara akasituru kana tomone senu kamo no uFage no simo naranaku ni |
I am still awake And the dawn has come, I see. I slept not with another! Faithful as a mated duck; though ‘duck-down Frost’ was there none! |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed at night, at the end of the Twelfth Month.
亡人のくる夜ときけど君もなし我が住む宿や魂無きの里
| naki Fito no kuru yo to kikedo kimi mo nasi wa ga sumu yado ya tamanaki no sato |
The dead Return tonight, I’ve heard, yet You are not here; Is my dwelling place truly A house without spirit? |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
When Koshikibu no Naishi died, Izumi Shikibu composed this looking at her grandchildren.
とゞめおきて誰をあはれと思ふらん子はまさるらん子はまさりけり
| todome okite tare wo aFare to omoFuran ko Fa masaruran ko Fa masarikeri |
Left behind, Who, fondly, do You think upon, I wonder. Worse for the children, perhaps. Worst to lose my child. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
Composed when she was in retreat at a mountain temple and saw someone’s funeral.
立ちのぼる煙につけて思ふかないつまた我を人のかく見ん
| tatinoboru keburi ni tukete omoFu kana itu mata ware wo Fito no kaku min |
Rising to the skies With the smoke I send My thoughts: Sometime hence I Will appear to folk like this. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部
On the way down to Izumi, one night she heard a miyakodori softly calling and composed this.
言問はゞありのまにまに都鳥みやこのことを我に聞かせよ
| koto toFaba ari no manimani miyakodori miyako no koto wo ware ni kikaseyo |
Should I ask, Speak plainly, O Capital bird, And of the capital Tell me. |
Izumi Shikibu
和泉式部