君しのぶ草にやつるるふるさとは
松虫の音ぞ悲しかりける
松虫の音ぞ悲しかりける
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi shinobu kusa ni yatsururu furusato wa
matsumushi no ne zo kanashikarikeru - English Translation
-
In the ruined home
overgrown with grasses of longing—
thinking of you,
the pine-cricket’s lonely cry
sounds all the more sorrowful.
- Meaning
- In this abandoned home, overgrown with grasses that recall you, the cry of the pine-cricket sounds all the more sorrowful as I think of you.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The poem evokes a desolate, once-shared home now fallen into ruin, where the speaker waits for a lover who does not return, expressing a deeply worn and longing heart.
“Shinobu-gusa” (a type of fern) forms a pivot with “to think of you.”
“Matsumushi” refers to what is now called the bell cricket, and carries an association with “to wait,” deepening the sense of longing.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aki no yo wa tsuyu koso koto ni samukarashi
kusamura goto ni mushi no wabureba - Next Poem
-
Aki no no ni michi mo madoinu matsumushi no
koe suru kata ni yado ya karamashi