Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
逢ふことの
Fujiwara no Asatada · 中納言朝忠
逢ふことの
絶えてしなくば
なかなかに
人をも身をも
恨みざらまし
Historical kana
あふことの
たえてしなくば
なかなかに
ひとをもみをも
うらみざらまし
Original English translation
If we had never met at all, I would not, after all, have resented either you or myself.
History and context
Asatada’s Shūishū poem imagines the alternative history of a love affair. Rather than blaming only the absent beloved, it includes the speaker’s own participation in the pain.
Imagery and wordplay
A counterfactual sentence frames the entire poem. An encounter becomes both a gift and the cause of regret.
Shūishū · 拾遺集恋一678
Japanese text and historical kana follow the linked Wikisource transcription. Classical poems can have variant spellings and wording in different anthologies. The source anthology reference identifies the version represented in this collection, not necessarily its earliest surviving text. English prose translations and reading notes are original interpretations; some wordplay permits more than one reading.