Hitori nuru toki wa mataruru tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ひとり寝る時は待たるる鳥の音も
まれに逢ふ夜はわびしかりけり

Roma-ji: Hitori nuru toki wa mataruru tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri
English Translation: When I sleep alone
how I wait for it to sound,
the crowing of the cock—
yet on the rare nights we meet
how bitter it has been to hear
Meaning: When I sleep alone I wait impatiently for the cock to crow, but on the rare nights when we meet, that same cry is bitter to hear.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems V 895

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the cock's crow, longed for when she sleeps alone, is bitter on the rare nights when she meets her lover. Setting the same cry against two kinds of night, the lonely one and the night of meeting, she speaks of how seldom they meet and how painful it is to part.
The heart that wishes the long lonely night would end and the heart that grieves to see a rare night of meeting end are set in reversed positions around the single sound of the cock.
The poet, the elder sister of Ono no Komachi, is known only by that relationship, and nothing more of her life is recorded.

The first line, "Hitori nuru," means "sleeping alone," a night when the lover does not come.
The second line, "toki wa mataruru," means "at such times it is awaited," with "ruru" the attributive of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru."
The third line, "tori no ne mo," means "even the cry of the cock" that announces dawn.
The fourth line, "mare ni au yo wa," means "on nights when we seldom meet," paired with "toki wa" in the second line.
The last line, "wabishikarikeri," means "how wretched it has been," with "keri" expressing realization.
Author: Elder Sister of Ono no Komachi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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