Kokinshu #301
Thursday, 13 September 2012 08:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer A poem from the poetry contest held in the palace of the consort in the Kanpyô era.
One might indeed see
the leaves of the autumn trees
that are floating
upon the white-capped waves as
drifting boats of fishermen.
shiranami ni
aki no ko no ha no
ukaberu o
ama no nagaseru
fune ka to zo miru
One might indeed see
the leaves of the autumn trees
that are floating
upon the white-capped waves as
drifting boats of fishermen.
—7 September 2012
Original by Fujiwara no Okikaze. The version in the contest records marks "floating" as the topic instead of, as here, a direct-object that emphasizes the act of seeing. Bringing the emphasis out requires, alas, moving the final speculation up to the front, but that suspension is not as important. The verb for the drifting implies a measure of unintentionality, and I might have gone for "set adrift" but for the agency that adds.shiranami ni
aki no ko no ha no
ukaberu o
ama no nagaseru
fune ka to zo miru