autumn has now come;
fallen leaves lie thick at my door—
maples strewn below;
yet no one comes, parting them,
treading through to visit me

Meaning

Autumn has come; fallen leaves lie thick upon my dwelling, yet there is no one who parts them and comes to visit.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)

In the lonely season of autumn, the fallen leaves, the solitary poet, and the sense of desolation are expressed with a rhythm of “-kinu -kinu -nashi,” giving the poem a curiously measured cadence.

It invites reflection on the poet’s situation: whether he waits in vain for a beloved who does not come, or whether he has fallen into decline and is no longer visited by anyone.

Author

Unknown Poet

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

when longing comes to me, I shall gaze and think on them— maple leaves of red; do not scatter them away, O wind that blows down the hills
unable to withstand the autumn wind, they scatter— maple leaves that fall; like them, with no fixed course, my own path fills me with grief
parting them with my steps, shall I go yet further on, to pay a visit— though I see the path ahead hidden by the falling leaves
the autumn moonlight clearly lights the mountain side— is it so that I may behold and count them all, these falling maple leaves?

autumn has now come; fallen leaves lie thick at my door— maples strewn below; yet no one comes, parting them, treading through to visit me

autumn has now come;
fallen leaves lie thick at my door—
maples strewn below;
yet no one comes, parting them,
treading through to visit me