Waga yo to ya fukeyuku sora o omouran koe mo yasumanu kirigirisu kana

わがよとや更けゆく空を思ふらん
声も休まぬきりぎりすかな

Roma-ji: Waga yo to ya fukeyuku sora o omouran koe mo yasumanu kirigirisu kana
English Translation: Does it think this night
is its own, the world its time,
as it deepens on,
never resting in its song,
the cricket singing there?
Meaning: Does the cricket think the deepening night its own, its time in the world, as it sings on without ever pausing?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 395

Headnote: "Hearing crickets late at night"
The topic is hearing crickets late at night; the character used in the headnote means kirigirisu, the cricket. As the night deepens, does the cricket think it its own night, its own time in the world, singing on without rest? The poet imagines the heart of an insect singing on and on in the late night.
Yo plays on yo, the world, one's prime, and yo, night, laying the cricket's time of glory over the deepening night. After the two poems on insects before the moon, here the poet hears insects in the depth of night.

First line, “waga yo to ya”: yo is a pivot word joining yo, one's time in the world, and yo, one's night, and ya is a question particle.
Second line, “fukeyuku sora o”: the sky of the deepening night.
Third line, “omouran”: ran is present conjecture in the attributive form required by ya; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “koe mo yasumanu”: never resting its voice, singing on.
Fifth line, “kirigirisu kana”: the cricket, closing with kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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