Aki hatsuru kareno no mushi no koe taeba ari ya nashi ya o hito no toe kashi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋果つる枯野の虫の声絶えば
ありやなしやを人の問へかし

Roma-ji: Aki hatsuru kareno no mushi no koe taeba ari ya nashi ya o hito no toe kashi
English Translation: When autumn ends
and the insects of the withered fields
fall silent at last,
whether I live or no,
I wish someone would ask
Meaning: When the voices of the insects in the withered fields at autumn's end fall silent, I wish someone would ask whether I am still alive or not.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1093

Headnote: "Sent to someone who had long failed to visit, toward the end of the ninth month, when I had fallen ill and felt there was little hope"
Toward the end of the ninth month he fell ill and felt he might not recover, and he sent this poem to someone who had long failed to visit. When the insects of the withered fields at autumn's end fall silent, I wish someone would ask whether I live or not, he says. As the insects of the withered fields weaken and fall silent at the end of autumn, so his own life, in illness, is about to run out. He asks that at least before then the friend inquire after him, laying over the late autumn scene both reproach toward one who does not visit and his own forlornness.
The author, "Fujiwara no Mototoshi," was a son of the Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie. A great-grandson of Fujiwara no Michinaga, he was a leading figure of the poetic world alongside Minamoto no Toshiyori and became the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei.
"Ari ya nashi ya" in the fourth line draws on Ariwara no Narihira's poem found in the Tales of Ise and the Kokin Wakashū, "na ni shi owaba iza koto towamu miyakodori waga omou hito wa ari ya nashi ya to." It shares the insects with 1095 of this book.

First line, "aki hatsuru": "as autumn ends," the end of the ninth month in the headnote.
Second line, "kareno no mushi no": "the insects of the withered fields," a figure for himself in illness. It shares the insects of autumn with "mushi dani aki wa" in the fourth line of 1095 of this book.
Third line, "koe taeba": "when their voices cease," the irrealis with "ba" making a supposition, a figure for the end of life.
Fourth line, "ari ya nashi ya o": "whether I live or not," drawing on Narihira's poem on the capital bird.
Fifth line, "hito no toe kashi": "kashi" is an insistent final particle added to the imperative, "I wish someone would ask."
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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