Ikemizu ya kōri toku ran ashigamo no yo fukaku koe no sawagu naru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

池水や氷解くらん蘆鴨の
夜深く声の騒ぐなるかな

Roma-ji: Ikemizu ya kōri toku ran ashigamo no yo fukaku koe no sawagu naru kana
English Translation: Has the pond's water
shaken off its ice tonight?
The reed ducks, it seems,
deep into the dark of night
are raising a clamor of cries.
Meaning: Has the ice on the pond begun to melt? Deep into the night, the ducks among the reeds seem to be clamoring.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 231

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hearing the reed ducks clamoring late at night, the poet wonders whether the ice on the pond has melted. With only the ducks' voices reaching his ears in the dark as a clue, he pictures the unseen pond.
The author, written as Tachibana no Yukiyori in kana, is Tachibana no Yukiyori. He appears to have been an official of the mid-Heian period, but little is known of his life.

First line, "ikemizu ya," means "the water of the pond," with "ya" a questioning particle.
Second line, "kōri toku ran," means "is its ice melting, I wonder," with "ya" resolved by the attributive "ran." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "ashigamo no," means "the ducks among the reeds." Following the ducks of the preceding poem, poems on ducks stand side by side.
Fourth line, "yo fukaku koe no," means "their voices deep in the night."
Final line, "sawagu naru kana," means "they seem to be clamoring," with "naru" an auxiliary of inference from sound and "kana" exclamatory. It pairs with the next poem, 232, in which the wind from the mandarin ducks' wings makes the pond's ice still colder, contrasting melting ice with hardening ice.
Author: Tachibana no Yukiyori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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