郭公鳴くや五月の短夜も
独りし寝れば明かしかねつも
独りし寝れば明かしかねつも
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu naku ya satsuki no mijikayo mo hitori shi nureba akashikanetsu mo
- English Translation
-
Cuckoo singing
in the fifth month of the year,
even the short nights,
when I lie alone in sleep,
I can hardly see to dawn.
- Meaning
- Even the short nights of the Fifth Month, when the cuckoo sings, are hard to see through to dawn when I sleep alone.
- Commentary
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Book Two Summer Poems 125
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The nights of the Fifth Month, when the cuckoo sings, ought to be short, yet sleeping alone the poet finds them long and hard to see through. The contrast between the short nights of the season and the long night felt by a lonely heart expresses loneliness.
The poem uses the same first and second lines as the poem placed at the head of the love poems in the Kokinshū, "Hototogisu naku ya satsuki no ayamegusa ayame mo shiranu koi mo suru kana."
First line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo that sings in the Fifth Month.
Second line, "naku ya satsuki no," means "of the Fifth Month when it sings," with "ya" as an interjectory particle. It begins with the same phrasing as the famous love poem of the Kokinshū.
Third line, "mijikayo mo," means "even the short nights" of the Fifth Month. Whereas 121 and 122 of this book regretted how quickly the short summer night ends, this poem says the same short night is hard to get through, reversing the sense of the night's length.
Fourth line, "hitori shi nureba," means "when I sleep alone," with "shi" as an intensifying particle. Like "hitori ite" in 120 of this book, it sings of the loneliness of sleeping alone.
Final line, "akashikanetsu mo," means "I can hardly see it through to dawn," with "kanu" expressing difficulty and "mo" as an exclamatory particle.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Satsukiyami kurahashiyama no hototogisu obotsukanaku mo nakiwataru kana
- Next Poem
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Hototogisu matsu ni tsukete ya tomoshi suru hito mo yamabe ni yo o akasuran