数ならぬみ山隠れの郭公
人知れぬ音をなきつつぞ経る
人知れぬ音をなきつつぞ経る
- Roma-ji
-
Kazu naranu miyamagakure no hototogisu hito shirenu ne o nakitsutsu zo furu
- English Translation
-
Of no account,
a cuckoo hidden deep
within the hills,
I cry with a voice unknown
to all, as the days go by
- Meaning
- Like a cuckoo of no account, hidden deep in the mountains, I spend my days crying out in a voice no one hears.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Love Poems I 549
Headnote: "Sent to a woman he had set his heart on, though she seemed beyond his reach."
The poet says that like a cuckoo of no account hidden deep in the mountains, he spends his days crying in a voice no one hears. Likening his insignificant self to a cuckoo hidden in the hills, he appeals with his love for a woman beyond his reach.
According to the headnote, he sent it to a woman he had set his heart on though she seemed hard to win. Following the two preceding poems, it places "hototogisu" in the third line, so that three love poems entrusted to the cuckoo stand together.
The poet, called "Harumichi no Tsuraki," is Harumichi no Tsuraki. A son of Harumichi no Niina, he rose from student of letters to be appointed Governor of Iki but is said to have died before taking up the post. His "yamagawa ni kaze no kaketaru shigarami wa" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The first line, "Kazu naranu," means "of no account," a humble word for his insignificance.
The second line, "miyamagakure no," means "hidden deep in the mountains."
The third line, "hototogisu," the cuckoo, is the same word as the third line of 547 and 548 in this book.
In the fourth line, "ne" means a voice: "a voice no one knows of."
In the last line, "naki" is a pivot word meaning both a bird "singing" and a person "weeping." The particle "zo" and the attributive "furu" form a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Harumichi no Toshi
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sato goto ni naki koso watare hototogisu sumika sadamenu kimi tazunu tote
- Next Poem
-
Au koto no kataito zo to wa shirinagara tama no o bakari nani ni yoriken