なき渡る雁の涙や落ちつらむ
物思ふ宿の萩の上の露
物思ふ宿の萩の上の露
- Roma-ji
-
Nakiwataru kari no namida ya ochitsuramu
mono omou yado no hagi no ue no tsuyu - English Translation
-
Do the passing geese
as they cry across the sky
shed their falling tears?
On bush clover in this house
where I brood, the drops of dew.
- Meaning
- Are these the tears of geese crying as they pass across the sky? The dew upon the bush clover in this dwelling of sorrow.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
As the poet sheds tears in sorrow, the dew upon the bush clover in the garden is imagined as the fallen tears of geese crying as they pass through the sky.
“Yado” means one’s own dwelling; in earlier times, both a house and a lodging were referred to alike as a “yado.”
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- On old branches of autumn bush clover now bloom flowers I behold— and the heart I once had then has not been forgotten yet.
- From this very time when lower leaves of bush clover take on autumn hues, shall one who lies down alone find it ever hard to sleep?
- The dewdrops on bush clover— to thread them as shining beads I took them in hand, but they vanished all away;— if one would see, see them there.
- If one were to break and take it, surely it would fall away at once— on autumn bush clover boughs white dew lies, bending the stems.