Ashihiki no yama no yamadori kai mo nashi mine no shirakumo tachi shi yoraneba - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山の山鳥かひもなし
峰の白雲立ちし寄らねば

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama no yamadori kai mo nashi mine no shirakumo tachi shi yoraneba
English Translation: Like the mountain bird
of the foot-weary mountains,
all is in vain—
for the white clouds of the peak
never rise and drift my way
Meaning: Like the copper pheasant alone on the mountain, I live here to no purpose, for you, like the white clouds on the peak, never rise and drop by.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1280

Headnote: "Sent to someone from his house at Awata."
The poet says that the mountain pheasant lives in vain, since the white clouds of the peak never come near. Likening himself, alone at his house at Awata, to the copper pheasant said to sleep apart from its mate across the ridge, he longs for one who, like the white clouds, never comes to visit.
According to the headnote, he sent it to someone from his house at Awata.
The poet, "Lord Kanesuke," is Fujiwara no Kanesuke. A son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, he rose to Middle Counselor. Because his mansion stood on the bank of the Kamo River he was called the Embankment Middle Counselor, and he was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, he is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Mika no hara wakite nagaruru Izumigawa."

The first line, "Ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain." Poem 1299 of this book begins with the same first line.
The second line, "yama no yamadori," means "the mountain pheasant," a bird said to sleep apart from its mate across the ridge, a figure for sleeping alone.
The third line, "kai mo nashi," means "all in vain," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "mine no shirakumo," means "the white clouds on the peak," a figure for the one he hopes will visit.
The last line, "tachi shi yoraneba," means "since they never drift my way," with "shi" emphatic. "Rise" is an associated word with "clouds."
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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