音に立ててなかぬ日はなし鶯の
昔の春を思ひやりつつ
昔の春を思ひやりつつ
- Roma-ji
-
Ne ni tatete nakanu hi wa nashi uguisu no mukashi no haru o omoiyaritsutsu
- English Translation
-
Not a single day
passes without crying aloud,
as the warbler sings,
while my thoughts go back
to the springs of long ago
- Meaning
- Not a day goes by that I do not cry aloud, like the warbler singing, as my thoughts go back to the springs of the past.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1407
Headnote: "Reply."
Taifu says no day passes without her crying aloud like the warbler, thinking back on the springs of the past. Taking up "ne ni zo nakaruru" of the preceding poem, she answers that not only at the first warbler's song but every day she weeps aloud remembering the springs when the former Crown Prince lived.
It is the reply to the preceding poem by the daughter of Fujiwara no Harukami.
The poet, Taifu, seems to have been a lady-in-waiting and poet of the mid-Heian period, though little is known of her life.
The first line, "Ne ni tatete," means "raising my voice," taking up "ne ni" in the preceding poem's last line.
The second line, "nakanu hi wa nashi," is a pivot word on "naka," both the warbler singing and a person weeping, answering "nakaruru" in the preceding poem. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "uguisu no," means "like the warbler," taking up "first warbler" in the preceding poem's fourth line.
The fourth line, "mukashi no haru o," means "the springs of long ago," when the former Crown Prince lived.
The last line, "omoiyaritsutsu," means "as my thoughts go back," with "tsutsu" continuation, inverted with the second line.
- Author
- Taifu
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aratama no toshi koekurashi tsune mo naki hatsuuguisu no ne ni zo nakaruru
- Next Poem
-
Morotomo ni okiishi aki no tsuyu bakari kakaramu mono to omoikakeki ya