When first I hear it,
the cuckoo’s earliest cry,
helplessly I feel,
a longing for someone—
though no one is yet mine.
- Meaning
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When I hear the cuckoo’s first cry, though it cannot be helped, I find myself longing for someone, though no one is yet mine.
- Commentary
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Book III, Summer Poems
Composed upon hearing the cuckoo’s first call.
Hearing the cuckoo’s first cry brings about a longing for someone, even though there is no particular person to think of.
- Author
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Ki no Tomonori
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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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.
-
In Isonokami,
the ancient capital’s call
of the cuckoo—
its voice alone remains
just as it was long ago.
-
In summer mountains,
the cuckoo that cries aloud—
if it has a heart,
let it not let its voice
reach me, lost in thought.