88
AN OFFICIAL OF THE DOWAGER EMPRESS KWŌKA
I’ve seen thee but a few short hours;
As short, they seemed to me,
As bamboo reeds at Naniwa;
But tide-stakes in the sea
Can’t gauge my love for thee.
This verse was written some time in the twelfth century; and Naniwa is the ancient name of Ōsaka.
There are several double meanings in this verse; lines 2 and 3 can mean either ‘one section of a reed cut off between the joints’, or ‘one night’s sleep as short as a reed’. In the fourth line also, miotsukushi means a tide-gauge, as explained in the note to verse No. 20, but the whole line, taken as printed, reads, ‘How can I be already tired of thee!’ The contrast here is between the length of only one section of a short reed and the long stake set up to measure the rise and fall of the tide.
The illustration seems to show the lady to whom the verse was addressed.
