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
- Other
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- 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.
- In autumn fields, I have lost my way among paths— toward the cricket’s cry, perhaps I should make my way and seek a place to lodge the night.
- In autumn fields, the waiting cricket’s voice is heard— is it for me, then? I will go and see at once, and pay a visit there tonight.