寝覚めするたよりに聞けば時鳥
つらき人をも待つべかりけり
つらき人をも待つべかりけり
- Roma-ji
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Nezame suru tayori ni kikeba hototogisu tsuraki hito o mo matsubekarikeri
- English Translation
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When I chanced to hear,
waking in the night, the cuckoo
calling out its song,
I knew I should have waited
even for one who is cold
- Meaning
- Waking in the night, I chanced to hear the cuckoo; so it seems I ought to wait up even for a heartless lover.
- Commentary
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Book Three Summer Poems 152
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Thanks to waking in the night while waiting sleeplessly for a lover, the poet was able to hear the cuckoo, and so she concludes that waiting for a heartless lover has its rewards and that she ought to wait. A witty poem turning the pain of waiting in love into the joy of hearing the cuckoo, it overlays the feelings of love with a summer image.
The author, "Mother of Prince Yasusuke," was a lady-in-waiting also known as Shijō no Miya no Chikuzen. Daughter of Takashina no Narinobu, Governor of Chikuzen, and of Ise no Taifu, she served Fujiwara no Kanshi, Empress of Emperor Go-Reizei, and is called by this name as mother of Prince Yasusuke.
First line, "nezame suru": "waking in the night."
Second line, "tayori ni kikeba": "tayori" means an occasion or chance, and the realized condition gives "when I heard it upon waking."
Third line, "hototogisu": the cuckoo whose voice reached her. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "tsuraki hito o mo": "tsuraki hito" is a heartless person, a cold lover. Like "matsu hito kara ka" in the preceding poem, 151, waiting for the cuckoo and waiting for a person overlap.
Fifth line, "matsubekarikeri": "bekari" expresses what ought to be and "keri" realization: she belatedly sees that even waking often while waiting for a cold lover has brought something good.
- Author
- The Mother of Prince Yasusuke
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ayashiki wa matsu hito kara ka hototogisu nakanu ni sae mo nururu sode kana
- Next Poem
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Hototogisu mata mo ya naku to mataretsutsu kiku yo shimo koso nerarezarikere