Though spring has come,
in the mountain village where
even flowers give no scent,
with a weary-sounding cry
the bush warbler sings.
- Meaning
-
Though spring has come, in this mountain village where even the flowers give no scent, the bush warbler sings with a voice that sounds weary.
- Commentary
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Spring Songs, Book One
Spring has at last come and the bush warbler is singing, yet in this mountain village where even the flowers have not begun to bloom, the poet imagines that even the bush warbler sings as if weary.
How the bush warbler’s cry is heard changes with the listener’s feelings and circumstances.
- Author
-
Ariwara no Muneyoshi
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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-
The scent of flowers,
entrusting it to the wind,
I send it along—
a guide that hastens to lead
the bush warbler forth.
-
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?
-
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.
-
Kasuga Field—
today, burn it not, I pray;
the young spring grass—
my wife, too, is hidden,
and I, too, am hidden.