In the chill of night,
as if to borrow a robe—
the wild geese cry out;
and beneath the bush clover,
the lower leaves have turned and fade.
- Meaning
- As the nights grow cold enough to need another robe, and the cries of wild geese are heard, even the lower leaves of the bush clover have begun to change and wither.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
The deepening of autumn is expressed through the chill of night, the cries of wild geese, and the bush clover leaves turning and fading.
A note attached to the poem says that, according to some, it was composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- How early it cries— the call of the passing wild goose; though the white dew yet tints the trees, not fully turned into the hues of autumn leaves.
- Through springtime haze the wild geese once passed away— yet now they cry, above the drifting autumn mist, their voices heard once more.
- On the autumn wind, with their voices raised like sails, come the passing ships— yet they are but the wild geese crossing Heaven’s narrow strait.
- My troubled thoughts I string together one by one— like the wild geese’ cries, that pass across the autumn sky night after night in their flight.