Composed when I saw a little child crying for his mother by the side of the road and, on asking folk nearby, being told that both his mother and father had died.
いとほしやみるに涙もとどまらずおやもなき子の母をたづぬる
| itōshi ya miru ni namida mo todomarazu oya mo naki ko no haha o tazunuru | O, how pitiful! The sight of tears Unending on An orphan child Searching for his mother… |
717
Among my miscellaneous poems
世にふればうきことの葉の数ごとにたえず涙の露ぞおきける
| yo ni fureba uki koto no ha no kazu goto ni taezu namida no tsuyu zo okikeru | Living in this world, My words of grief Number the same as My ceaseless tears, Falling as dewdrops.[i] |
687
[i] See: Topic unknown. よにふればうさこそまされみ吉野の岩のかけ道ふみならしてむ yo ni fureba / usa koso masare / miyoshino no / iwa no kakemichi / fuminarashitemu ‘Living in this world / Brings only an excess of grief; / Upon fair Yoshino’s / Steep and rocky trails / Would I set my feet.’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 951)
In the spring of the year following his daughter’s death, when the cherry blossom was in full bloom, he was gazing on the blossom at his house and, with others, composed on the topic of ‘expressing a little of one’s feelings’.
さくら花のどけかりけりなき人をこふる涙ぞまづはおちける
| sakurabana nodokekarikeri naki Fito wo koFuru namida zo madu Fa otikeru | The cherry blossom Seem so at peace, but For her who’s gone My loving tears Will be the first to scatter. |
The Onomiya Grand Minister
Original
ひとこふるこころはそらにかよへばやそらもなみだもともにしぐるる
| hito kouru kokoro wa sora ni kayoeba ya sora mo namida mo tomo ni shigururu | Yearning for him, does My heart into the skies And back fly? The skies and my tears, Both, are naught but showers… |
18
Left
ひとこふるこころはそらもなきものをいづこよりふるしぐれなるらむ
| hito kouru kokoro wa sora mo naki mono o izuko yori furu shigure naruramu | Yearning for him, My heart within the skies Is not, so Where is it that these falling Showers might be from? |
19
Right
おほかたのものおもふときにしぐるるをあきのそらとはみゆるなるらん
| ōkata no mono’omou toki ni shigururu o aki no sora to wa miyuru naruran | In general When sunk in gloomy thought, Showers fall— How like the autumn skies It does seem… |
20
Left
なみだがはせけどとまらずあかつきのわかれはをしのうきねをぞする
| namidagawa sekedo tomarazu akatsuki no wakare wa oshi no ukine o zo suru | The river of my tears I dam, yet they cease not: Dawn’s Parting I regret, as a mandarin Drifting in fitful sleep. |
36
Right
おきてゆくかたもしられずまどふかななみだもそでもめにさはりつつ
| okiteyuku kata mo shirarezu madou kana namida mo sode mo me ni sawaritsutsu | Rising and departing, Knowing not where to go, I am lost! My tears and my sleeves, too, Ever sting my eyes… |
37
Left
はるのよのあかぬわかれのあかつきはちへのにしきをたつにざりける
| haru no yo no akanu wakare no akatsuki wa chie no nishiki o tatsu ni zarikeru | After a spring night, Unsatisfied, parting at The dawn, Sewn a thousandfold, the brocade Through which I go! |
26
Right
あけぬてふこゑもなみだももろともにうちいづるからにそでぞぬれける
| akenu chō koe mo namida mo morotomo ni uchi’izuru kara ni sode zo nurekeru | ‘Tis dawn, say Birdsongs and tears Both, Bursting out, so My sleeves are soaked! |
27
