Tag Archives: words

Kinkai wakashū 687

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)

Yōzei’in miko futari uta’awase 04

Left

ねざめつつみをうぐひすのねをぞなくはなさかりにしきみをこふれば

nezametsutsu
mi o uguisu no
ne o zo naku
hana sakarinishi
kimi o koureba
Every time I wake,
My flesh, as a warbler,
Lets out sobbing cries,
For, fair as a blossom in bloom,
It is you I long for, my lady…

7

Right

ことにいでてなにかいふべきねざめつつこふるしたひもそらにとくらむ

koto ni idete
nani ka iubeku
nezametsutsu
kouru shitahimo
sora ni tokuramu
To put it into words,
What is there I can say?
Every time I wake,
Your underbelt, which I want so,
Seems to be loosening in the skies alone.

8

KKS XIV: 688

A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the reign of the Kanpyō emperor.

思ふてふ事の葉のみや秋をへて色もかはらぬ物にはあるらん

omoFu teFu
koto no Fa nomi ya
aki wo Fete
iro mo kaFaranu
mono ni Fa aruran
My fond thoughts expressed
In words, and leaves, simply
On reaching autumn’s surfeit—
Won’t they change their hues?
No, that will never be.

Anonymous