独りゐて物思ふ我を郭公
ここにしも鳴く心あるらし
ここにしも鳴く心あるらし
- Roma-ji
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Hitori ite mono omou ware o hototogisu koko ni shimo naku kokoro arurashi
- English Translation
-
Alone where I sit,
lost in brooding thoughts, to me
the little cuckoo
comes and sings right here, of all places—
it must have a feeling heart
- Meaning
- To me, sitting alone lost in brooding, the cuckoo comes and sings right here, of all places—it must have a feeling heart.
- Commentary
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Book Four Summer Poems 177
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the cuckoo, singing right here of all places beside him as he broods alone, must have a compassionate heart. In the midst of lonely brooding, he finds comfort in its voice.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Hitori ite," means "being alone," showing his solitude.
The second line, "mono omou ware o," means "me, lost in brooding," linking with the brooding poem 175 of this book.
The third line, "hototogisu," places the cuckoo as a bird that comes to sing beside the brooding poet.
In the fourth line, "shimo" is an emphatic particle: "sings here, of all places."
The last line, "kokoro arurashi," means "it seems to have a feeling heart," with "rashi" expressing an inference from evidence. From its singing here, he infers the cuckoo's heart.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Hototogisu kite wa tabi to ya nakiwataru ware wa wakare no oshiki miyako o
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Tamakushige aketsuru hodo no hototogisu tada futakoe mo nakite koshi kana