If from the valley
no voice of the bush warbler
were to come forth,
who then would ever know
that spring has come at all?
- Meaning
-
If the bush warbler did not come forth from the valley with its cry, who would ever know that spring has come?
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
By imagining the opposite of reality—if there were no cry of the bush warbler—the poet brings out the conjecture in the latter lines.
This is an example of a counterfactual expression.
- Author
-
Oe no Chisato
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
-
In the valley wind,
between gaps where ice melts,
from each small opening
waves come flowing out—are these
spring’s very first flowers?
-
The scent of flowers,
entrusting it to the wind,
I send it along—
a guide that hastens to lead
the bush warbler forth.
-
Though spring has come,
in the mountain village where
even flowers give no scent,
with a weary-sounding cry
the bush warbler sings.
-
Living near the fields,
each morning, morning by morning,
the bush warbler’s cry
as it sings can be heard—
so I listen, dawn by dawn.