Asaborake higurashi no koe kikoyu nari ko ya akekure to hito no iu ran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朝ぼらけひぐらしの声聞こゆなり
こや明け暮れと人の言ふらん

Roma-ji: Asaborake higurashi no koe kikoyu nari ko ya akekure to hito no iu ran
English Translation: At the break of dawn
the voice of the higurashi,
the day's-end cicada, I hear—
is this, then, what people mean
when they speak of dawn and dusk?
Meaning: At daybreak I hear the voice of the higurashi, the cicada of day's end. Is this what people mean when they speak of "from dawn to dusk"?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 467

Headnote: "When I went to a mountain temple and a higurashi cicada sang at dawn"
The poet hears the higurashi cicada at daybreak and wonders whether this is what people mean by "from dawn to dusk." The headnote shows he composed it when a higurashi sang at dawn as he went to a mountain temple. Amused that a cicada whose name means "passing the day till dusk" should sing at dawn, he links hearing "day's end" at daybreak with the phrase "dawn and dusk" in a poem of wit.
The author, the Left Commander Naritoki, is Fujiwara no Naritoki. A son of Fujiwara no Morotada, the Koichijō Minister of the Left, he served as Commander of the Left Guards and Major Counselor and was called the Koichijō Commander. His daughter Seishi became empress to Emperor Sanjō.

First line, "asaborake," means "at the faint break of dawn."
Second line, "higurashi no koe," means "the voice of the higurashi." "Higurashi" is a pivot word joining the name of the cicada and "higurashi," passing the day till dusk.
Third line, "kikoyu nari," means "I hear," with "nari" inferring from what is heard. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "ko ya akekure to," means "is this dawn and dusk," with "ko" meaning "this" and "ya" a questioning particle. It links hearing "day's end" at dawn to the phrase "dawn and dusk."
Final line, "hito no iu ran," means "do people say," resolving "ya" with the attributive "ran."
Author: Fujiwara no Naritoki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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