郭公我とはなしに卯の花の
うき世の中になきわたるらむ
うき世の中になきわたるらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu ware to wa nashi ni u no hana no
ukiyo no naka ni nakiwataruramu - English Translation
-
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
- Though it is not myself, the cuckoo seems to cry as it flies through this sorrowful world, as if it shared my lot.
- Commentary
-
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
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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