我が宿に月おし照れり霍公鳥
心あれ今夜来鳴き響もせ
心あれ今夜来鳴き響もせ
- Roma-ji
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Waga yado ni tsuki oshiteri hototogisu kokoro are koyoi kinaki toyomose
- English Translation
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In my garden here
the moon shines over all:
O cuckoo, you bird,
if you have a heart, tonight
come and fill the air with song
- Meaning
- The moon is shining over all my garden; O cuckoo, if you have any heart, come tonight and fill it with your song.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1480
Headnote: "Two poems by Ōtomo no Fumimochi"
On a lovely night when moonlight fills the garden, the poet calls on the cuckoo to come and sing tonight if it has any heart. It expresses a love of refinement that asks for nothing more than the cuckoo's voice added to the beauty of the moon.
The author, Ōtomo no Fumimochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a younger brother of Yakamochi. He died young.
The first line names the garden of his house.
The second line, "the moon shines over all," ends on the continuative "ri," and the poem pauses here.
The third line is an address.
The fourth line uses the imperative "are," calling "have a heart"; it has an extra syllable. In 1476 of this book the poet feels that the cuckoo "seems to have a heart," so poems thinking of the bird's feelings echo each other.
The final line is an imperative, urgently asking it to come and fill the air with song.
- Author
- Ōtomo no Fumimochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Waga yado no hanatachibana ni hototogisu ima koso nakame tomo ni aeru toki