Composed when I was at a certain place and telling tales with sundry others before a lady’s curtains and heard a woman’s voice – one of her attendants, no doubt – say, ‘He seems to be strangely knowledgeable about matters of the heart for such an old man!’
あはれてふ事にしるしはなけれどもいはではえこそあらぬ物なれ
| aFare teFu koto ni sirusi Fa nakeredomo iFade Fa e koso aranu mono nare | Of sensitivity Surface signs Are their none, yet Saying nothing, indeed, is What makes it plain! |
Tsurayuki
When the Minamoto Minister had visited her, but then lately had not come to call, she caught a faint glimpse of him through a hole in the wall of her chamber, and sent him this.
まどろまぬかべにも人を見つるかなまさしからなん春の夜の夢
| madoromanu kabe ni mo Fito wo mituru kana masasikaranan Faru no yo no yume | Unable to sleep, Through my wall him I did glimpse! O, how I wish were true My dream this brief spring night… |
Suruga
On the same conception.
あさとあけてながめやすらんたなばたはあかぬ別のそらをこひつつ
| asa to akete nagame ya suran tanabata Fa akanu wakare no sora wo koFitutu | With the morn, does she open up her door And gaze out? The Weaver Maid, Unsated, her parting in the Skies does ever deeply feel… |
Tsurayuki
When His Majesty commanded a poem, during the reign of the Engi emperor.
しら露をかぜの吹きしくあきののはつらぬきとめぬ玉ぞちりける
| siratuyo wo kaze no Fukisiku aki no no Fa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo tirikeru | Silver dewdrops, In the ever-blowing wind Across the autumn meadows Never remaining threaded are Those scattered gemstones. |
Fun’ya no Asayasu
Sent to a woman.
名にしおはばあふさか山のさねかづら人にしられでくるよしもがな
| na ni si oFaba aFusakayama no sanekadura Fito ni sirarede kuru yosi mogana | If the name fits, then As Meeting Mount’s Twining kadsura vine, Without others finding out, I wish I had a way to come to you! |
The Sanjō Minister of the Right
When he had gone to Michinoku as Governor, on seeing that one of the pines at Takekuma had withered, had a sapling planted to replace it; on returning to the same province later, after finishing his posting, he saw the tree he had planted once more.
栽ゑし時契りやしけんたけくまの松をふたたびあひみつるかな
| uwesi toki tigiri ya siken takekuma no matu wo Futatabi aFimituru kana | When I planted you, Did I make a vow, perhaps? That Takekuma’s Pine once more I would encounter!’ |
Lord Fujiwara no Motoyoshi
藤原元善
