Is it the dark night,
or has it lost its way?
the cuckoo cries on,
unable to pass beyond
my dwelling, lingering there.
- Meaning
-
Is it because the night is dark, or has it lost its way? The cuckoo cries on, unable to pass beyond my dwelling.
- Commentary
-
Book III, Summer Poems
Composed at a poetry contest in the imperial court during the Kanpyō era.
The cuckoo seems unable to fly past the poet’s home, continuing to cry. The poet quietly delights in hearing its voice linger on.
- Author
-
Ki no Tomonori
- Source
-
Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
-
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?
-
Though the orange blooms,
where once it made its lodging,
have not yet withered,
why then has the cuckoo’s cry
fallen silent all at once?
-
On a summer night,
just as I seem to fall asleep,
the cuckoo’s one cry—
and already the dawn breaks,
light spreading in the east.