Your voice I hear,
but never see your tears,
o cuckoo crying—
take, then, my sleeves instead,
soaked through with falling tears.
- Meaning
-
I hear your voice but cannot see your tears, O cuckoo; then take my sleeves, soaked through with tears.
- Commentary
-
Book III, Summer Poems
Though the cuckoo’s cry is heard, its tears are unseen. The poet offers his own tear-soaked sleeves instead, as if to lend his sorrow to the bird.
- Author
-
Unknown Poet
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
-
Cuckoo, you cry
in so many villages,
so many places—
though I am drawn to you,
still I find you wearisome.
-
When I call to mind,
Mount Tokiwa’s cuckoo
cries out aloud,
as though crimson dye were
poured forth from its breast.
-
From mountain depths,
the cuckoos come and cry,
one after another—
as though asking aloud,
who among them surpasses all.
-
Do not now return
to the mountains, cuckoo bird—
you have come at last;
as long as your voice endures,
cry here at my dwelling.