荒雄らが行きにし日より志賀の海人の大浦田沼は寂しくもあるか
arawora ga
yukinisi pi yori
siga no ama no
opouratanu wa
sabusiku mo aru ka |
Arao
Left and since that day
The fishermen of Shika
At Ōuratanu
Seem somehow sad… |
志賀の山いたくな伐りそ荒雄らがよすかの山と見つつ偲はむ
sika no yama
itaku nakiriso
arawora ga
yosuka no yama to
mitutu shinopamu |
O, Shika Mountain’s
Trees fell not!
For Arao is
Linked with that mountain and
I gaze on it, and think of him! |
荒雄らを来むか来じかと飯盛りて門に出で立ち待てど来まさず
arawora wo
komu ka kozi ka to
ipimorite
kado ni idetati
matedo komasazu |
O, Arao
Will you return, or will you not?
I pile high the rice
And stand outside our door, but
There is no sign of you… |
Ten poems about a fisherman from Shika in Chikuzen Province.
大君の遣はさなくにさかしらに行きし荒雄ら沖に袖振る
opokimi no
tukapasaku ni
sakasira ni
yukisi arawora
oki ni sode puru |
His dread Lord’s
Command he has not, but
For himself
Arao has gone
Waving his sleeves from the offing… |
'Simply moving and elegant'