Hanasusuki soyo to mo sureba akikaze no fuku ka to zo kiku hitori nuru yo wa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

花すすきそよともすれば秋風の
吹くかとぞ聞くひとり寝る夜は

Roma-ji: Hanasusuki soyo to mo sureba akikaze no fuku ka to zo kiku hitori nuru yo wa
English Translation: Plumed pampas grass,
whenever it gives a rustle,
it is the autumn wind
blowing, so I hear it, on
nights when I sleep alone
Meaning: Whenever the plumed pampas grass rustles, I hear it as the autumn wind blowing, on nights when I sleep alone.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 353

Headnote: "At the poetry contest of the Empress in the Kanpyō era."
The poet says that on nights spent sleeping alone, even the faint rustle of the pampas grass makes one strain to hear whether the autumn wind has risen. It conveys the loneliness of sleeping alone, the sleepless heart stirred by the smallest sound.
According to the headnote, it was composed at a poetry contest held in the Kanpyō era of Emperor Uda in the name of his mother, Princess Hanshi. Following the preceding poem on pampas grass, where that poem looked at the grass coming into plume, this one listens to its sound.
The poet, Ariwara no Muneyana, was a son of Ariwara no Narihira and served as governor of Chikuzen, among other posts. He was one of the poets of the Empress's contest in the Kanpyō era, and his son was Ariwara no Motokata.

The first line, "Hanasusuki," is pampas grass in plume, the same word as the third line of the preceding poem.
In the second line, "soyo" is the sound of pampas leaves and plumes stirring in the wind: "when it rustles soyo."
The third line, "akikaze no," means "the autumn wind."
The fourth line, "fuku ka to zo kiku," means "I hear it as if blowing," with "zo" and the attributive "kiku" forming a kakarimusubi pattern. The poem pauses here.
The last line, "hitori nuru yo wa," means "on nights I sleep alone," standing in inversion with the fourth line and giving at the end the time when it sounds so.
Author: Ariwara no Muneyoshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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