Kode sugusu aki wa nakeredo hatsukari no kiku tabi goto ni mezurashiki kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

来で過ぐす秋はなけれど初雁の
聞くたびごとにめづらしきかな

Roma-ji: Kode sugusu aki wa nakeredo hatsukari no kiku tabi goto ni mezurashiki kana
English Translation: There is no autumn
that goes by without their coming,
yet the first wild geese,
each and every time I hear,
seem so wondrous and so new.
Meaning: There is never an autumn that passes without the geese coming, yet every time I hear the first geese, they seem fresh and wonderful.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 168

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Though there has never been an autumn when the geese failed to come, the cries of the first geese sound fresh every time they are heard. The poem expresses how even something that comes without fail each year still stirs unchanging wonder with its first sound.

First line, "kode sugusu," means "passing without their coming," with the negative conjunctive particle "de."
Second line, "aki wa nakeredo," means "though there is no autumn," with the concessive particle "do."
Third line, "hatsukari no," refers to the first geese to arrive that autumn. The cries of the geese so eagerly awaited in 162 of this book are at last heard here.
Fourth line, "kiku tabi goto ni," means "every time I hear them."
Final line, "mezurashiki kana," means "how fresh and captivating," with the exclamatory particle "kana." The poem closes on the contrast between the constancy of their yearly coming and the freshness of each hearing.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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