Mono omoeba mada yūgure no mama naru ni akenu to tsuguru shibatori no koe

物思へばまだ夕暮れのままなるに
明けぬと告ぐるしば鳥の声

Roma-ji: Mono omoeba mada yūgure no mama naru ni akenu to tsuguru shibatori no koe
English Translation: As I brood on love
it is still the evening dusk,
so it seems to me,
yet 'the night is done,' it cries,
the voice of the dawn's bird.
Meaning: Brooding over love, I feel it is still evening, yet already a bird's voice cries that the night has ended.
Commentary: Love Poems 699

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Lost in the brooding of love, the poet has forgotten the passing of time and feels as though it were still dusk. Yet already he hears the voice of a bird announcing the dawn. The poem expresses his surprise at having passed the whole night in brooding, and the length of a sleepless night. The meaning of shibatori is uncertain, but it is taken to be a bird that sings to announce daybreak.

First line, “mono omoeba”: while I brood over love.
Second line, “mada yūgure no”: still at dusk, time forgotten in brooding.
Third line, “mama naru ni”: ni is concessive: though it is still so.
Fourth line, “akenu to tsuguru”: announcing that the night has ended, set against the dusk of the second line.
Fifth line, “shibatori no koe”: the meaning of shibatori is uncertain, but it is taken to be a bird that announces the dawn; the poem ends on a noun.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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