Imasara ni onoga sumika o tataji tote konoha no shita ni oshi zo nakunaru - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今さらに己がすみかを立たじとて
木の葉の下にをしぞ鳴くなる

Roma-ji: Imasara ni onoga sumika o tataji tote konoha no shita ni oshi zo nakunaru
English Translation: Even at this late hour,
not to leave its dwelling place,
so it seems resolved,
beneath the drifted fallen leaves
a mandarin duck is calling.
Meaning: As if resolved, even now, not to fly away from its home, a mandarin duck seems to be calling from beneath the fallen leaves that cover the water.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 145

Headnote: "Composed on the topic “Fallen Leaves Burying the Water.”"
The topic imagines a pond whose surface is buried under fallen leaves; amid it, a mandarin duck stays by its familiar waters and calls. Hidden by the leaves, the bird is heard rather than seen, a scene that makes good use of the topic’s “burying the water.”

First line, “imasara ni”: “even now,” even now that the water is buried in leaves.
Second line, “onoga sumika o”: “its own dwelling,” the waterside where the duck lives.
Third line, “tataji tote”: “ji” expresses negative intention; the poet personifies the duck, guessing it resolves not to fly off.
Fourth line, “konoha no shita ni”: “beneath the leaves” covering the water, expressing the topic; the leaves heaped in the preceding poem have moved to the waterside.
Fifth line, “oshi zo nakunaru”: “zo” is answered by the attributive “naru,” an inference from sound; known by voice, not sight, it continues the preceding poem’s listening.
Source: Shika Wakashu
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