[50] きみがためを (Kimigatameo)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Depiction of Yoshitaka's Poem by Hokusai

きみがため・をしからざりし・いのちさえ

kimi ga tame・oshi karazarishi・inochi sae

ながくもがなと・おもいけるかな

nagaku mo gana to・omoi keru kana

〜藤原義孝 (Fujiwara no Yoshitaka)

Translation

For your precious sake,

Once my eager life itself

Was not dear to me.

But now it is my heart's desire

It may long, long years endure.

Meaning

This is a poem which was written from the author to his lover after spending the night together, a type of poem called 後朝の歌 (kinuginu no uta). The author is saying that before he met his lover, he yearned for her so much that he used to think he would have gladly given his life just for the chance to meet her. However, once his wish was granted and he was able to spend the night with her, he began to wish for a long life, to be able to spend more time together. This change of heart is expressed beautifully in the switch from the first half of the poem and the second. Despite the author's passion for his lover, he unfortunately passed away at a young age.

In the first line, 君がため（kimigatame) means "for your sake". The next line,惜しからざりし(oshi karazarishi) means "was not precious", with ざり making the meaning negative, and しshowing that this was in the past. In the beginning of the second half of the poem, 長くもがな (nagaku mogana) means that the author wishes for a long life, with もがな showing that this is his desire. 

Author

Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (954 - 974) was the third son of Fujiwara no Koremasa, author of [45] Aware. Yoshitaka's son, Fujiwara no Yukinari, became a famous calligrapher. The author died at the age of 20 from smallpox, passing away on the same day as his twin brother.