木の暗になりぬるものを霍公鳥
何か来鳴かぬ君に逢へる時
何か来鳴かぬ君に逢へる時
- Roma-ji
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Ko no kure ni narinuru mono o hototogisu nani ka ki nakanu kimi ni aeru toki
- English Translation
-
Now that the trees
have grown dark with summer leaves,
O hototogisu,
why do you not come and sing,
now when I am meeting you?
- Meaning
- The trees have grown dark with leaves, and yet, cuckoo, why do you not come and sing, now that I have met my guest?
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen 4053
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems from a banquet at the residence of the secretary Kume no Ason Hironawa, entertaining Tanabe no Fubito Sakimaro."
The poet laments that though the trees have grown dark with summer leaves, the cuckoo does not come to sing now that he is meeting his guest. Hironawa, the host of the banquet, answers Sakimaro's lament with the same feeling, wishing the bird would sing now of all times, while the guest is here.
Kume no Hironawa was the secretary (jō) of Etchū province, a subordinate of Yakamochi who often joined the banquets and outings there. He exchanged poems on close terms with Yakamochi.
First line, "ko no kure ni": the time when the trees grow thick and dark, that is, early summer. It picks up "ko no kureshige ni" from Yakamochi's 4051.
Second line, "narinuru mono o": "mono o" is adversative, "although it has become so." It shows that the season for the cuckoo has come.
Third line, "hototogisu": as in the preceding poem, it calls to the cuckoo.
Fourth line, "nani ka ki nakanu": Hironawa uses again the last line of his own poem 4050. Repeating the same phrase deepens the frustration of waiting in vain. The poem pauses after the fourth line.
Last line, "kimi ni aeru toki": in inverted order, it closes by naming the moment when the bird should sing: "now, when I am with you."
- Author
- Kume no Hironawa
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
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Hototogisu ima nakazu shite asu koemu yama ni naku tomo shirushi arame ya mo
- Next Poem
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Hototogisu koyo naki watare tomoshibi o tsukuyo ni nasoe sono kage mo mimu