Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
哀れとも
Fujiwara no Koremasa · 謙徳公
哀れとも
いふべき人は
おもほえで
身のいたづらに
なりぬべきかな
Historical kana
あはれとも
いふべきひとは
おもほえで
みのいたづらに
なりぬべきかな
Original English translation
I can think of no one who would even say “how sad”; my life seems destined to waste away.
History and context
Koremasa is named by his posthumous title, Kentokukō. In the Shūishū’s final love book, the poem gives abandonment a second dimension: the absence of anyone who might acknowledge it.
Imagery and wordplay
The imagined word of sympathy never arrives. Isolation extends beyond the missing lover.
Shūishū · 拾遺集恋五950
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.