Aketateba semi no orihae nakikurashi yoru wa hotaru no moe koso watare - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

明けたてば蝉のをりはへ鳴き暮らし
夜は蛍の燃えこそわたれ

Roma-ji: Aketateba semi no orihae nakikurashi yoru wa hotaru no moe koso watare
English Translation: When the day breaks
like the cicadas all day long
I weep the hours away
and at night, like fireflies
I go on burning still
Meaning: When the day breaks, like the cicadas I weep the whole day through, and when night falls, like the fireflies I go on burning.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 543

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Entrusting love to summer insects, the poem sings of the pain of love by day and by night: weeping all day like the cicadas and burning all night like the fireflies. The pairing of cicada and firefly, voice and light, is vivid, expressing a love that never ceases all day long. Following the spring of the preceding poem, it sings of love through images of summer.

First line, "When the day breaks": aketateba means when dawn comes.
Second line, "like the cicadas all day long": orihae means continuing on and on, showing cicadas singing without pause.
Third line, "I weep the hours away": nakikurashi means spending the day crying, overlaying the cicadas' "singing" with human "weeping."
Fourth line, "and at night, like fireflies": yoru wa hotaru no pairs with aketateba in the first line, contrasting the cicadas of day with the fireflies of night.
Fifth line, "I go on burning still": moe koso watare means "I go on burning," with koso forming a kakari-musubi with watare. The fireflies' light is likened to love's fire. The next poem, 544, also sings of summer insects and love's fire.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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