When the Fifth Month comes,
your song will lose its rarity,
O cuckoo;
before that time arrives,
let me hear your fresh young voice.
- Meaning
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When the Fifth Month comes, your song will no longer be rare, O cuckoo—so before that time, I long to hear your fresh, early voice.
- Commentary
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Book III, Summer Poems
Though the cuckoo’s song will in time become familiar, the poet longs to hear it while it is still new and rare. As in many things, there is a special delight in what first appears.
- Author
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Ise
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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Perhaps it would not
share the words of praise—
“how lovely”—
so, lagging behind the spring,
it blooms alone.
-
Awaiting the Fifth Month,
O mountain cuckoo,
beat your wings—
and even now, I pray,
sing in last year’s voice.
-
Awaiting the Fifth Month,
when I catch the scent
of orange blossoms,
it is the fragrance
of one long past that comes to me.
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Before I knew it,
has the Fifth Month come?
from the mountain depths,
the cuckoo at last now
has begun to cry aloud.