Before I knew it,
has the Fifth Month come?
from the mountain depths,
the cuckoo at last now
has begun to cry aloud.
- Meaning
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Before I knew it, has the Fifth Month come? The cuckoo in the mountains has now begun to cry.
- Commentary
-
Book III, Summer Poems
The poem expresses the emotion felt upon hearing at last the long-awaited cry of the cuckoo.
- Author
-
Unknown Poet
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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When the Fifth Month comes,
your song will lose its rarity,
O cuckoo;
before that time arrives,
let me hear your fresh young 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.
-
This very morning,
having just begun to cry,
still on its journey,
o cuckoo, pray take rest
in my blooming orange tree.
-
Crossing Mount Otowa
this very morning,
the cuckoo now cries,
from treetops far away,
its voice drifting to me.