Ashihiki no yamashita toyomi naku tori mo waga goto taezu mono omou rame ya - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山下とよみ鳴く鳥も
我がごと絶えず物思ふらめや

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yamashita toyomi naku tori mo waga goto taezu mono omou rame ya
English Translation: Even the birds that cry
making the mountain's foot ring
with their echoing—
could they be like me, brooding
without a moment's rest
Meaning: Even the birds whose cries ring through the foot of the mountains—could they, like me, be brooding without a moment's rest?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1299

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet asks whether even the birds that make the mountain's foot ring with their cries brood without rest as he does. Hearing birdsong echo through the hills, he laments a self that grieves more ceaselessly still.
The poet, Priest Yamada, seems to have been a monk of the early Heian period, but little is known of his life.

The first line, "Ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain." Poem 1280 of this book begins with the same first line, singing of a mountain pheasant.
The second line, "yamashita toyomi," means "making the mountain's foot ring."
The third line, "naku tori mo," means "even the birds that cry."
The fourth line, "waga goto taezu," means "ceaselessly, as I do."
The last line, "mono omou rame ya," means "could they be brooding? Surely not," with "rame ya," the realis of "ramu" plus "ya," rhetorical.
Author: Yamada Hōshi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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