秋萩の昔の露に袖濡れて
古きまがきに鹿ぞ鳴くなる
古きまがきに鹿ぞ鳴くなる
- Roma-ji
-
Akihagi no mukashi no tsuyu ni sode nurete furuki magaki ni shika zo nakunaru
- English Translation
-
On the autumn clover
the dew of long ago
wets my sleeves through—
by the old and ancient fence
I can hear a stag cry out.
- Meaning
- My sleeves are wet with the dew of long ago upon the autumn clover, and by the old fence a stag is crying.
- Commentary
-
Autumn Poems 244
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems on deer"
As the poet wets his sleeves with the dew lying on the autumn bush clover as it did long ago, remembering the past, he hears a stag crying by an old fence. Clover dew and tears of nostalgia, an old fence and a stag's cry overlap, and a deep longing for bygone days pervades the poem.
Line 1 names the autumn bush clover.
Line 2 means "the dew of long ago," dew that lies as it always has, or dew that brings back the past.
Line 3, "my sleeves are wet," also suggests tears of nostalgia.
Line 4, "by the old fence," echoes "long ago" in line 2, showing the passing of time.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with the inferential naru, closing with this line the sequence of deer poems that began with 235. Against the clover and deer of the fields in the preceding poem, 243, this poem sings of the clover and deer at the fence of an old house, so field and dwelling form a pair.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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