Hitorineshi toki wa matareshi tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

独り寝し時は待たれし鳥の音も
まれに逢ふ夜はわびしかりけり

Roma-ji: Hitorineshi toki wa matareshi tori no ne mo mare ni au yo wa wabishikarikeri
English Translation: When I slept alone,
how I waited for the cock
to crow out the dawn;
on the rare nights that we meet,
how forlorn its cry now sounds!
Meaning: The cock's crow I waited for when I slept alone sounds so forlorn on the rare nights we meet.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 718

The poem says that the cock's crow, longed for on nights of sleeping alone as a sign that dawn was coming, sounds forlorn on the rare nights of meeting, for it announces parting. Through contrast it vividly expresses how the same cry can sound utterly different on a night alone and a night together. It follows the heart of the preceding poem, 717, which wished that the night would not end.

First line, "hitorineshi," means "when I slept alone," with "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki."
Second line, "toki wa matareshi," means "that I waited for at that time," with "re" a spontaneous auxiliary. It pairs with "au yo," the night of meeting, in the fourth line.
Third line, "tori no ne mo," means "even the cock's crow" that announces the dawn.
Fourth line, "mare ni au yo wa," means "on the rare nights we meet," contrasted with the time of sleeping alone in the second line.
Final line, "wabishikarikeri," means "sounds forlorn," the same line as the final line of 709 in this book, "wabishikarikeri."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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