classic waka stream

いにしへを恋ひつつひとり越えくれば
なきあふ山の時鳥かな
Roma-ji

Inishie o koitsutsu hitori koekureba nakiau yama no hototogisu kana

English Translation
As I cross the hills
alone, longing for the days
that are no more,
the mountain cuckoo cries
as if to weep with me
Meaning
As I come over the hills alone, longing for days gone by, the mountain cuckoo cries as though weeping along with me.
Commentary
Book Three Summer Poems 191

Headnote: "Composed when a cuckoo sang at Kaguraoka as I went to Bodaijuin for the Eight Lectures for Retired Emperor Go-Ichijō"
Composed when a cuckoo sang at Kaguraoka as the poet was on his way to Bodaijuin to attend the Eight Lectures on the Lotus Sutra held in memory of Retired Emperor Go-Ichijō. Crossing the hill alone, longing for the late emperor's days, he finds the cuckoo crying as if in time with his own weeping. Pivoting on "naki," both a person "weeping" and a bird "crying," it joins the tears of remembrance with the cuckoo's voice.
The author, "Preceptor Keisen," was a Tendai monk holding the rank of Preceptor. Little else is known of his life.
Bodaijuin was a temple built near Kaguraoka to pray for the soul of Emperor Go-Ichijō, whose tomb also lies there.

First line, "inishie o": "for the past," the days when Go-Ichijō was alive.
Second line, "koitsutsu hitori": "tsutsu" marks continuation: "alone, longing all the while."
Third line, "koekureba": the realized condition, "as I came across" Kaguraoka.
Fourth line, "nakiau yama no": "naki" is a pivot word for a person "weeping" and the cuckoo "crying," and "au" means to do together: "of the hill where we weep and cry together."
Fifth line, "hototogisu kana": the exclamatory "kana," expressing feeling for a cuckoo that keeps company with his grief. Poem 151 of this book also links the waiting for the cuckoo with tears.
Author
Keisen
Source
Senzai Wakashu
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