All through autumn nights,
not knowing when dawn has come,
the insects keep crying—
are they, like myself, as well,
filled with such sorrowful thoughts?
- Meaning
- The insects that cry on through the autumn night, unaware even of the coming dawn—are they, like me, filled with sorrow?
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
This poem was paired in a poetry contest at the residence of Prince Koretada.
The long autumn night is likened to a stretch of time filled with sorrow. Having wept through such a night, the poet hears the insects and wonders if they share the same feelings of sadness.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- On an autumn night, the moonlight shines so bright that even Kurabu’s mount— the mountain of deep darkness— seems as though I could cross it.
- 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.
- As bush clover fades and takes on autumn colors— the cricket’s cry; like me, who cannot find sleep, are its nights filled with sorrow?
- On autumn nights, the dew above all seems cold— for in every clump of grass the insects lament, their voices filled with distress.