Semi no koe kikeba kanashi na natsugoromo usuku ya hito no naramu to omoeba - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

蝉の声聞けば悲しな夏衣
薄くや人のならむと思へば

Roma-ji: Semi no koe kikeba kanashi na natsugoromo usuku ya hito no naramu to omoeba
English Translation: The voice of cicadas—
hearing it, how sad I feel,
for like summer robes
might your heart grow thin as well?
That is the thought that comes to me.
Meaning: How sad it is to hear the cicadas sing, for I cannot help thinking that, like a summer robe, your love for me may be growing thin.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 715

Headnote: "A poem from the poetry contest held at the residence of the Empress Dowager in the reign of the Kanpyō emperor"
Hearing the cicadas of summer, the speaker grieves that the lover's feelings may grow thin like a light summer robe. Overlaying the transience of the cicadas' song with the thinness of summer clothing, the poem conveys the fear that the lover's heart is cooling.
The headnote's "poetry contest at the Empress Dowager's residence in the Kanpyō reign" was held for Princess Hanshi, mother of Emperor Uda, during his reign; 688 in this book comes from the same contest. Following the autumn leaves of the preceding poem, it expresses a changing heart through the imagery of summer.
The author, "Tomonori," is Ki no Tomonori. The son of Ki no Aritomo and a cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki, he was one of the compilers of the Kokinshū but is said to have died before its completion.

The first line, "semi no koe," is the voice of cicadas singing in summer, an image that evokes transience.
The second line, "kikeba kanashi na," means "how sad it is to hear," "na" being an exclamatory particle; the poem pauses here.
The third line, "natsugoromo," is a thin robe worn in summer and leads to "usuku" (thin) in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "usuku ya hito no," overlays the thinness of the summer robe with the thinning of the lover's feelings, the particle "ya" forming a kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line.
The final line, "naramu to omoeba," means "for I think it may become so," giving the reason for the second line in inverted order.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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