Yuku hotaru kumo no ue made inubeku wa akikaze fuku to kari ni tsugekose - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

行く蛍雲の上まで去ぬべくは
秋風吹くと雁に告げこせ

Roma-ji: Yuku hotaru kumo no ue made inubeku wa akikaze fuku to kari ni tsugekose
English Translation: O firefly, flying
up to the clouds above,
if you can go so high,
tell the wild geese for me
that the autumn wind now blows
Meaning: Firefly, rising away—if you can fly as high as the clouds, tell the wild geese that the autumn wind is blowing here.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 252

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
Calling to a firefly flying upward, the poet asks it, if it can reach the clouds, to tell the wild geese that the autumn wind is already blowing on earth. With the coming of the autumn wind, it conveys impatience for the arrival of the wild geese, messengers of autumn.
It also appears in section forty-five of the Tales of Ise, as the poem a man composed on seeing fireflies in flight while in mourning for a girl who had died longing for him.
The poet, called "Narihira Ason," is Ariwara no Narihira. He was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei, and his mother was Princess Ito, a daughter of Emperor Kanmu. He rose to Provisional Middle Captain of the Right Palace Guards and was also called the Fifth Ariwara Captain. He is taken to be the hero of the Tales of Ise and is counted among both the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Yuku hotaru," means "firefly flying away," calling to a firefly lingering from summer.
The second line, "kumo no ue made," means "as high as the clouds," pointing to the high sky where the wild geese fly.
In the third line, "beku" is the continuative form of the auxiliary of possibility "beshi," and "wa" gives a supposition: "if you can go."
The fourth line, "akikaze fuku to," means "that the autumn wind is blowing," continuing from the preceding poem, 251, with the arrival of the autumn wind.
In the last line, "kose" is the imperative form of the auxiliary "kosu," expressing a request: "tell the wild geese for me."
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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