Aki fukami yowaru wa mushi no koe nomi ka kiku ware totemo tanomi ya wa aru

秋深み弱るは虫の声のみか
聞く我とても頼みやはある

Roma-ji: Aki fukami yowaru wa mushi no koe nomi ka kiku ware totemo tanomi ya wa aru
English Translation: As autumn deepens,
is it but the insects' voices
that grow faint and weak?
I who hear them, even I,
what hope have I to hold to?
Meaning: With autumn deepening, is it only the insects' voices that grow weak? What hope is there even for me, who listens to them?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 457

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed poems on insects"
This is the thirteenth poem in the insect series. As autumn deepens, is it only the insects' voices that grow weak? Even the poet who listens has no assurance of how long he will live. In the fading voices of the insects he sees the frailty of his own life.
Following the preceding poem, which counted the days of autumn at the weakening insect voices, this one draws that decline close to the poet's own life. The insect series deepens to the point of seeing human impermanence through the insects' voices.

First line, “aki fukami”: since autumn is deep; mi added to an adjective stem expresses a cause.
Second line, “yowaru wa mushi no”: what weakens, the insects'.
Third line, “koe nomi ka”: only the voices, ka expressing a question; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “kiku ware totemo”: even I who listen.
Fifth line, “tanomi ya wa aru”: ya wa is a rhetorical particle, is there any hope? There is none.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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