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.
- Meaning
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Now that you have come, do not return to the mountains, O cuckoo; as long as your voice lasts, cry here at my home.
- Commentary
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Book III, Summer Poems
The long-awaited cuckoo has come down from the mountains and is calling. Since it will return once the season passes, the poet expresses a wish for it to remain and continue singing at his home.
- Author
-
Unknown Poet
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
-
Your voice I hear,
but never see your tears,
o cuckoo crying—
take, then, my sleeves instead,
soaked through with falling tears.
-
From mountain depths,
the cuckoos come and cry,
one after another—
as though asking aloud,
who among them surpasses all.
-
Ah, wait a while—
o cuckoo returning
to the mountain home;
bear a message for me:
I am weary of this world.
-
In early summer rain,
as I dwell in troubled thought,
the cuckoo at night,
cries deep into the darkness—
whither has it flown away?