Text

題しらず

藤原清正

逢事の　世々をへだつる　くれ竹の　ふしのかずなき　こひもする哉

Translation

Topic unknown

Fujiwara no Kiyotada

The nights we meet together are separated (1-2) / [like bamboo joints] / a small number of nights laying together / [thus] I long for you.

深養父集５６. Fourth line ふしのかずなる
公忠集２３. Prose preface こひ、をむなにおくる. First line あふ事を. Second line 世々にへだつる. Fifth line こひにもあるかな

世々: Despite the spelling in the base text, this is 夜々 ("many nights"). It plays on the space between the bamboo joints which is also よ.

呉竹の: This is a preface to lead into ふし, the bamboo joints but also 臥し ("lay down with").「呉竹は、節の多い竹」（全釈）

かずなき: Both the joints of bamboo and the nights we spent together. 新抄 also suggests this applies to 恋 as well, but doubts his own interpretation of that. All modern editors accept it -- the idea is that the word can mean either "limitless" or "tiny", and plays on that meaning so that the nights they spend lying together are few, but the amount of his longing for her is endless.

This is a typical wordplay love poem using standard imagery.

See 578, 630.

「流暢練達の修辞技巧」（全釈）「呉竹につけてこの歌を女に贈ったか」（和歌大系）