Hito wa kode kaze no keshiki mo fukenuru ni aware ni kari no otozurete yuku - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人は来で風のけしきも更けぬるに
あはれに雁のおとづれてゆく

Roma-ji: Hito wa kode kaze no keshiki mo fukenuru ni aware ni kari no otozurete yuku
English Translation: The one I wait for
does not come, and the wind's mood
has grown late with night,
yet how movingly the geese
go calling as they pass by
Meaning: The one I wait for does not come, and even the wind has taken on the mood of the deepening night—yet the wild geese, so movingly, call to me as they pass by.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1200

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. The one awaited does not come, and the wind has taken on the mood of late night, yet the geese alone call movingly as they pass. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," was named Satō Norikiyo in lay life and served as a guard of the North Quarter under Retired Emperor Toba, but took holy orders in his youth and became a poet-monk. He traveled through many provinces and left a great number of poems.

The first line, "hito wa kode," means "the one I wait for does not come." "De" is a negative conjunctive particle, first showing that the awaited one does not come.
The second line, "kaze no keshiki mo," means "even the mood of the wind." Taking up the wind of the preceding poem, it senses the deepening of night through the wind.
The third line, "fukenuru ni," means "though it has grown late." "Ni" is concessive, continuing into the visit of the geese in the lower verse.
The fourth line, "aware ni kari no," means "the geese, so movingly."
The last line, "otozurete yuku," means "go calling as they pass." "Otozuru" means both "to make a sound" and "to visit," and like "oto suru" in the preceding poem, it sings of something that visits in place of the lover. In the contrast between the lover who does not come and the geese who visit and pass on, the loneliness of the one who waits deepens.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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