Atarashiki toshi ni wa aredomo uguisu no naku ne sae ni wa kawarazarikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

新しき年にはあれども鶯の
鳴く音さへには変はらざりけり

Roma-ji: Atarashiki toshi ni wa aredomo uguisu no naku ne sae ni wa kawarazarikeri
English Translation: Though this is indeed
a year that has newly come,
the bush warbler's song,
even the voice that it sings,
has not changed in the least.
Meaning: Though it is a new year, even the song of the bush warbler has not changed at all.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1002

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that though the year is new, even the voice of the bush warbler has not changed from last year. The heart goes out to the warbler's song, which announces spring unchanged even as the year turns. Where the preceding poem, 1001, lamented a self growing old in the new year, this poem tells of a warbler's voice that does not change, drawing a different feeling from the same first line.

First line, "atarashiki," means "new," the same word as the first line of the preceding poem, 1001, continuing the poems on the new year.
Second line, "toshi ni wa aredomo," means "though it is a year," with "domo" a concessive particle. Like the second line of the preceding poem, "toshi wa kuredomo," it runs on into the lower verse with a concession.
Third line, "uguisu no," means "the bush warbler," sung of as the bird that heralds spring.
Fourth line, "naku ne sae ni wa," means "even the voice it sings," with "sae" an adverbial particle of addition.
Final line, "kawarazarikeri," means "has not changed, I find," with "keri" expressing a sigh of realization. It sets an unchanging bird's voice against the self that changes, lamented in the final line of the preceding poem, "furimasarikere."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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