蟋蟀いたくななきそ秋の夜の
長き思ひは我ぞまされる
長き思ひは我ぞまされる
- Roma-ji
-
Kirigirisu itaku na naki so aki no yo no
nagaki omoi wa ware zo masareru - English Translation
-
Cricket, do not cry
so bitterly in the night—
for this autumn eve,
though long your lament may be,
my own thoughts are longer still.
- Meaning
- Cricket, do not cry so sorrowfully; though the autumn night is long, the thoughts I bear are longer still.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
This poem was composed when, visiting someone at night, the poet heard the sound of crickets.
Though it seems to ask the cricket not to cry, it reflects the poet’s own sorrow, suggesting that even greater than the grief heard in the insect’s voice is the loneliness within their own heart.
“Kirikirisu” in this context refers to what is now called a cricket.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Tadanobu
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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