Though it is not I,
the cuckoo, among deutzia,
cries as it flies on—
as if through this weary world,
it wanders in sorrow like me.
- Meaning
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Though it is not myself, the cuckoo seems to cry as it flies through this sorrowful world, as if it shared my lot.
- Commentary
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Book III, Summer Poems
Composed upon hearing the cuckoo cry.
The poet observes the cuckoo crying as it flies and imagines it lamenting this transient, sorrowful world. Yet the bird does not truly share such awareness, so the feeling is the poet’s own, projected onto it.
- Author
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Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
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Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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The cuckoo cries
upon the mountain of wait—
for one it awaits;
and I, all at once, as well,
feel my longing deepen still.
-
Is it of old times
that it still feels such longing,
the cuckoo that cries—
it comes to my former home
and sings there, as once it did?
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Lotus leaves that grow
unstained within muddy waters,
keeping a pure heart—
why then do they, with the dew,
make it seem a shining gem?
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In a summer night,
still thinking it early eve,
dawn has already come—
in what part of the clouds now
does the moon find its lodging?