Uzura naku shizuya ni ouru tamakosuge kari ni nomi kite kaeru kimi kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鶉鳴く賤屋に生ふる玉小菅
かりにのみ来て帰る君かな

Roma-ji: Uzura naku shizuya ni ouru tamakosuge kari ni nomi kite kaeru kimi kana
English Translation: Where quails cry, the sedge,
the fine sedge that grows beside
the humble hut, cut—
coming only for a moment,
you go back again, alas
Meaning: Like the fine sedge that grows by a humble hut where quails cry, cut and gone, you come only for a passing moment and go back again.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 853

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'love that comes but does not stay' when ten love poems were composed at the same house"
Like the preceding poem, it comes from the ten love poems at the house of Fujiwara no Toshitada and was composed on the topic "love that comes but does not stay." Like cutting the fine sedge that grows by a humble hut where quails cry, he says, you come only for a moment and go back. The upper three lines form a preface leading to "kari," pivoting between "cutting" the grass and coming only "for a passing moment." Through the lonely scene of a grassy village, it conveys resentment toward one who will not stay long.
The author, "Fujiwara no Michitsune," was a poet of the cloistered rule era. He composed poems at gatherings such as those at the house of Fujiwara no Toshitada.
It is on the same topic, "love that comes but does not stay," as the preceding poem, 852. Where the preceding poem laments the longing left after the lover goes, this one laments the lover who comes only for a moment and leaves.

First line, "uzura naku": "where quails cry," a grassy place, painting a lonely scene far from human dwellings.
Second line, "shizuya ni ouru": "shizuya" is the humble house of people of low station.
Third line, "tamakosuge": "tama" is a term of praise, and the word means small sedge. These three lines form a preface that, through sedge as something to be cut, leads to "kari" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "kari ni nomi kite": "kari" pivots between "cutting" the sedge and "for a passing moment." "Nomi" is restrictive, "coming only fleetingly."
Fifth line, "kaeru kimi kana": "kana" is exclamatory, closing with resentment, "you who go back." It shares the verb "kaeru" with "tachikaeru" in the first line of the preceding poem, 852.
Author: Fujiwara no Michitsune
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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