[45] あはれ (Aware)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Illustration of the Little Mermaid by Sulamith Wülfing,
 image © by Petra Michel, CA & Aquamarin Verlag, Germany

あはれとも・いふべきひとは・おもほえで
aware to mo・iu beki hito wa・omooede

みのいたづらに・なりぬびけかな

mi no itazura ni・narinu beki kana

〜謙徳公 (Kentokukō)

Translation

Surely there is none

Who will speak a pitying word

About my lost love.

Now my folly's fitting end

Is my own nothingness.

Meaning

This poem is written from the viewpoint of a man whose lover now treats him coldly and refuses to meet with him. Here, the poet is trying to play to his former lover's sympathies, by exaggerating the level of excruciating the pain he feels over this rejection. He is trying to illicit his lover's pity for him by saying that he feels as though he might die from this heartbreak. Though this sort of appeal for sympathy may come off as a bit pathetic nowadays, at the time, it was considered more of a badge of refinement among male nobility to be suffering so terribly over love.  

In the first line あわれとも (aware to mo) means that the speaker seems pitiable.  The next part, いふべき人は (iu beki hito wa) means "a person who will say so".  Lastly 思ほえで (omouede)  means "I don't think", or "it is unthinkable", with で working to negate the verb. Taken together, the first verse means something like: "It is doubtful that there is anyone who would say that they feel sorry for me". In the second verse, いたづらに・なりぬべきかな（itazura ni/ narinubeki kana) basically means that the author believes he will die in vain from his heartache. 

Author

Fujiwara no Koremasa (924 -972) was the grandson of Fujiwara no Tadahira, author of [26] Ogu. The name Kentokukō was assigned to the author posthumously. Koremasa was named conservator of Japanese poetry by Emperor Murakami in 951, and he served as a minister for Emperor En'yū. His son Fujiwara no Yoshitaka authored [50] Kimigatameo and his grandson Fujiwara no Michinobu authored [52] Ake.