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- Gosen Wakashu
Hitori ite mono omou ware o hototogisu koko ni shimo naku kokoro arurashi
To me, sitting alone lost in brooding, the cuckoo comes and sings right here, of all places—it must have a feeling heart.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tamakushige aketsuru hodo no hototogisu tada futakoe mo nakite koshi kana
At the hour when dawn broke open like a jeweled comb box, the cuckoo came, singing just two notes.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kazu naranu waga mi yamabe no hototogisu konohagakure no koe wa kikoyu ya
I, who am of no account, am like a cuckoo on the edge of the deep mountains—does my voice, hidden among the leaves, reach your ears?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tokonatsu ni nakite mo henan hototogisu shigeki miyama ni nani kaeruramu
I wish you would stay and sing here, as if summer would last forever, little cuckoo—why must you go back to the deep and leafy mountains?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fusu kara ni mazu zo wabishiki hototogisu naki mo hatenu ni akuru yo nareba
No sooner do I lie down than I am filled with distress, for the night dawns before the cuckoo has even finished its song.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Samidare ni nagamekuraseru tsuki nareba saya ni mo miezu kumogakuretsutsu
I am a moon that passes the days in brooding through the long May rains—so I cannot be seen clearly, ever hidden behind the clouds.
Futaba yori waga shime yuishi nadeshiko no hana no sakari o hito ni orasu na
Ever since its first two leaves I have marked this pink as mine—when it comes into full bloom, do not let anyone else pluck it.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ashihiki no yamahototogisu uchihaete tare ka masaru to ne o nomi zo naku
On and on the mountain cuckoo cries, nothing but crying, as if to ask who among them sings the best.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsurezure to nagamuru sora no hototogisu tou ni tsukete zo ne wa nakare keru
As I gaze idly, lost in thought, at the sky of the long rains, the cuckoo comes calling—and with that I cannot help but cry aloud.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Iro kaenu hanatachibana ni hototogisu chiyo o naraseru koe kikoyu nari
In the orange tree whose color never changes, I seem to hear the cuckoo singing, as if rehearsing a thousand years.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tabine shite tsumagoi surashi hototogisu kannabiyama ni sayo fukete naku
Sleeping far from home, it must be longing for its mate—the cuckoo sings on Kannabi Mountain late into the night.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Natsu no yo ni koishiki hito no ka o tomeba hanatachibana zo shirube nari keru
On a summer night, if I seek the fragrance of the one I long for, the orange blossoms are what guide me there.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hototogisu hatsuka naru ne o kikisomete aranu mo sore to obomekaretsutsu
Ever since I first heard the cuckoo's faint voice, I keep mistaking voices that are not its own for it, again and again.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Samidare no tsuzukeru toshi no nagame ni wa mono omoiaeru ware zo wabishiki
In a year when the May rains go on and on, I who brood along with the long rains am the one who feels most forlorn.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hototogisu hitokoe ni akuru natsu no yo no akatsukigata ya augo naruramu
On a summer night that dawns with a single call of the cuckoo, is the brief hour before daybreak the only time we may meet?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Uchihaete ne o nakikurasu utsusemi no munashiki koi mo ware wa suru kana
Like the cicada that cries the whole day through, leaving only an empty husk, so I too am caught in an empty love.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet