The digger wasps cry,
in the autumn bush clover fields,
at dawn you depart;
when shall I await the day
the traveler returns?

Meaning

As the digger wasps cry in the autumn bush clover fields, you depart on your journey at dawn. I will wait, wondering when you will return.

Commentary

Book Eight: Poems of Parting

This poem describes the departure of a beloved person setting out on a journey, not knowing when they will return.\n\nUnlike today, travel in those days was neither convenient nor safe, and there were few means of communication. The poem expresses the poet's anxiety over whether the beloved traveler will return home safely, while waiting and wondering when that day will come.

Author

Unknown Poet

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

From Kasuga's mount high-peaked, the rising sun— never veiled by clouds, shall without a clouded hour shine upon the world, it seems
Though we part and go, if on Inaba's mountain peaks the pine trees grow, and I should hear that you still wait, I shall return even now

The digger wasps cry, in the autumn bush clover fields, at dawn you depart; when shall I await the day the traveler returns?

The digger wasps cry,
in the autumn bush clover fields,
at dawn you depart;
when shall I await the day
the traveler returns?