Okureite naku naru yori wa ashitazu no nado ka yowai o yuzurazariken - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

遅れゐて鳴くなるよりは葦鶴の
などか齢を譲らざりけん

Roma-ji: Okureite naku naru yori wa ashitazu no nado ka yowai o yuzurazariken
English Translation: Rather than be left
behind to cry out in grief,
O crane among the reeds,
why did you not give away
some of your long years to him?
Meaning: Rather than being left behind to cry, why did the crane of the reed beds not give its long years to its master?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 497

Headnote: "After the Koichijō Minister of the Left had passed away, on hearing the cranes kept at his house crying"
The poet asks why the crane, said to live a thousand years, did not give its years to its master rather than be left behind to cry. The headnote shows he composed it on hearing the cranes kept at the house of his younger brother, the Koichijō Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Morotada, crying after his death. Overlaying on the voice of the crane, symbol of long life, his grief for a brother gone too soon, he voices his sorrow as a wish that cannot be granted. The next poem, 498, also sets "ashitazu no" in its third line, so two poems on cranes stand side by side.
The author, the Ono-no-miya Chancellor, is Fujiwara no Saneyori. The eldest son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he rose to Regent and Chancellor and was given the posthumous name Seishin. He is the Lord Seishin named in the headnotes of 433 and 472 in this book.

First line, "okureite," means "left behind after his master's death."
Second line, "naku naru yori wa," means "rather than to be heard crying," with "naru" the attributive form of "nari," inferring from sound.
Third line, "ashitazu no," means "of the crane among the reeds," the same line as the third line of the next poem. Cranes also appear in 459 and 465 of this book.
Fourth line, "nado ka yowai o," means "why your years," with "ka" a questioning particle. The crane was said to live a thousand years.
Final line, "yuzurazariken," means "did you not give," resolving "ka" with the attributive "ken."
Author: Fujiwara no Saneyori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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