郭公今朝鳴く声に驚けば
君を別れし時にぞありける
君を別れし時にぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu kesa naku koe ni odorokeba kimi o wakareshi toki ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
The hototogisu
cries this morning, and I start—
startled, I know now
it is the very season
when I parted once from you.
- Meaning
- Startled by the cuckoo's cry this morning, I realize that it is the very season when I parted from you forever.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 849
Headnote: "Composed on hearing the cuckoo sing in the summer of the year after Fujiwara no Takatsune passed away"
This poem was composed in the summer of the year after Fujiwara no Takatsune's death, on hearing the cuckoo sing. Startled by the bird's voice this morning, the poet realizes that the season in which he parted from Takatsune a year ago has come round again. The voice of the bird announcing the season calls to mind the first anniversary of the death.
Fujiwara no Takatsune, named in the headnote, was a son of Fujiwara no Nagara and a younger brother of Mototsune.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū and wrote its Japanese preface. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.
The first line, "the cuckoo," names the bird of early summer, which was also thought to travel between this world and the realm of the dead.
The second line, "its cry this morning," means "by the voice that sang this morning."
The third line, "when I am startled," means "when I suddenly realize."
The fourth line, "when I parted from you," refers to parting by death.
The last line, "was the very time," closes in the attributive keru after zo, expressing the realization that it is that season.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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