classic waka stream

草深み分け入りて訪ふ人もあれや
ふりゆく跡の鈴虫の声
Roma-ji

Kusa fukami wakeirite tou hito mo are ya furiyuku ato no suzumushi no koe

English Translation
With the grass so deep,
would there were someone to come
parting it to call,
where the old place falls to ruin
and the bell crickets ring.
Meaning
The grass grows so thick; I wish someone would part it and come to visit, here where the old dwelling falls into decay and the bell crickets ring their song.
Commentary
Autumn Poems 460

Headnote: "Insects at an old home"
The topic is insects singing at an old village or a former dwelling. The grass has grown so thick at the site of the old dwelling that the path is lost; the poet wishes someone would part it and come to visit, as the bell crickets sing where the place grows old. The loneliness of a former home falling to ruin is laid over the voices of the bell crickets singing there.
Furi plays on furu, to grow old, and furu, to shake a bell, linked through the bell cricket. It also echoes 444, where insects sing in the overgrown garden of an old friend.

First line, “kusa fukami”: since the grass is deep; mi added to an adjective stem expresses a reason.
Second line, “wakeirite tou”: parting the grass and coming to visit.
Third line, “hito mo are ya”: a hypermetric line of six syllables, would there were someone; ya is exclamatory, expressing the wish. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “furiyuku ato no”: furi is a pivot word joining furu, to grow old, and furu, to shake a bell, of the site growing old.
Fifth line, “suzumushi no koe”: ending on a noun, the voice of the bell cricket, linked with the shaking of a bell in the fourth line.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
Prev Poem
Hitorine no tomo ni wa narete kirigirisu naku ne o kikeba monoomoi sou
Next Poem
Kabe ni ouru kogusa ni waburu kirigirisu shigururu niwa no tsuyu itou beshi