黙もあらむ時も鳴かなむひぐらしの
物思ふ時に鳴きつつもとな
物思ふ時に鳴きつつもとな
- Roma-ji
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Moda mo aramu toki mo nakanamu higurashi no mono omou toki ni nakitsutsu motona
- English Translation
-
When all is at peace,
at such times I'd have you sing,
cicada of dusk;
but when I'm lost in brooding
you sing on and on, in vain.
- Meaning
- I wish you would sing at times when I am at ease—but you, evening cicada, keep singing aimlessly just when I am lost in brooding.
- Commentary
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Book Ten Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1964
Headnote: "On Cicadas"
This poem laments the higurashi cicada's voice, which sings just when the poet is sunk in brooding, and its headnote is "On Cicadas." The weariness of feeling that it would be fine if it sang in calm times, but that its song at moments of gloom only deepens one's thoughts, is plain. The cicada's melancholy voice resonates with the brooding heart. Like 1826 in the spring section it ends with "nakitsutsu motona," so the lament that the voices of birds and insects stir the heart to no purpose appears across the seasons.
The first line, "moda mo aramu," when one might be at ease, is hypermetric.
In the second line, "toki mo nakanamu," "namu" is a particle expressing a wish directed at another: I wish you would sing. The poem breaks here.
The third line, "higurashi no," names the cicada that sings "kana-kana," known for its melancholy voice at dusk.
The fourth line, "when I brood," gives the time of its singing.
In the last line, "nakitsutsu motona," "motona" means to no purpose; it is the same ending as 1826, closing with a lament at a voice that unsettles the heart.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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