Tazu ga naki ashibe o sashite tobiwataru ana tazutazushi hitori sanureba

鶴が鳴き葦辺をさして飛び渡る
あなたづたづしひとりさ寝れば

Roma-ji: Tazu ga naki ashibe o sashite tobiwataru ana tazutazushi hitori sanureba
English Translation: Crying, the cranes
making for the reedy shore
fly across the sky;
ah, how forlorn I feel
sleeping here alone
Meaning: The cranes fly crying across the sky, making for the reedy shore; ah, how forlorn I feel, sleeping here alone.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3626

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "An old elegy, with tanka"
Seeing cranes fly crying toward the reedy shore, he laments the forlornness of sleeping alone. The preceding chōka, 3625, is an elegy lamenting that while even wild ducks sleep nestled as couples, he must sleep alone, spreading a single sleeve of the robe his late wife made him wear; this poem is its envoy. A left note reads "the above is a poem by Tajihi no Daibu grieving for his late wife," so it was originally an old elegy by Tajihi no Daibu mourning his wife. The travelers seem to have recited it on their journey, overlaying their own lot, sleeping alone apart from their wives.
The author, "Tajihi no Daibu," means a daibu of the Tajihi clan; there is no settled view as to whom it refers. "Daibu" was a title for officials of the fifth rank and above.
The overlapping of sound, leading from "tazu" (crane) to "tazutazushi" (forlorn), is deft, and the contrast between the birds flying together and the man alone is vivid.

First line, "tazu ga naki": "tazu" is the poetic word for crane: the cranes crying as they fly.
Second line, "ashibe o sashite": "ashibe" is a reedy waterside, the cranes heading for their roost.
Third line, "tobiwataru": flying across the sky; the poem breaks after the third line. The cranes returning together are contrasted with the man alone.
Fourth line, "ana tazutazushi": "ana" is an interjection and "tazutazushi" means forlorn and helpless, drawn out by the sound of "tazu" in the first line.
Fifth line, "hitori sanureba": "sa" is a prefix and "nureba" the realis plus "ba," a definite condition: since I sleep alone. It is inverted with the fourth line.
Author: Tajihi no Daibu
Source: Manyoshu
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