はるやとき花やおそきとききわかむ
鶯だにもなかずもあるかな
鶯だにもなかずもあるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Haru ya toki hana ya osoki to kikiwakamu
uguisu dani mo nakazu mo aru kana - English Translation
-
Is it spring, I ask,
or are the flowers too slow to come?
I would know by hearing—
yet even the bush warbler
does not sing at all.
- Meaning
- Though it is spring, I would ask whether spring has come too soon or the flowers are too slow to bloom; I would judge by hearing, yet even the bush warbler does not sing at all.
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One.
Composed at the beginning of spring.
It is a poem that sings of the longing for flowers and the bush warbler.
Spring is in name only, and there is nothing in the scene that makes one feel spring; a sense of poetic feeling can be seen.
The bush warbler is a bird that heralds the coming of spring.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Kotomichi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kasumi tachi ko no me mo haru no yuki fureba
hana naki sato mo hana zo chirikeru - Next Poem
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Haru kinu to hito wa iedomo uguisu no
nakanu kagiri wa araji to zo omou