かくばかり惜しと思ふ夜をいたづらに
寝てあかすらむ人さへぞうき
寝てあかすらむ人さへぞうき
- Roma-ji
-
Kaku bakari oshi to omou yo o itazura ni
nete akasuramu hito sae zo uki - English Translation
-
On such a night
that I would cherish so deeply—
to pass it in vain,
sleeping it through till morning—
even such people seem distasteful.
- Meaning
- On a night I cherish so deeply, those who sleep it away in vain until morning seem truly disagreeable.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
This poem was composed when people gathered at the Rai no Tsubo (Shōhōsha) and, under the theme of “lamenting the passing of an autumn night,” composed verses.
It criticizes those who, on a beautiful autumn night with the moon shining, simply sleep through it, seeing them as lacking in refinement and sensibility.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Though where I lie alone is no bed of grass and leaves— on autumn nights, it seems as though it is wet with the dew that settles there.
- At no set time are such thoughts confined—yet still, on autumn nights, they reach their utmost depth, with no end to pondering.
- White clouds drift on— with beating wings they cross and fly, the passing wild geese; even their number is seen in the moon of an autumn night.
- It must be midnight— the night has grown deep, it seems; as the wild geese cry, across that sounding autumn sky the moon is seen to pass along.