今日もまた尋ね暮らしつほととぎす
いかで聞くべき初音なるらむ
いかで聞くべき初音なるらむ
- Roma-ji
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Kyō mo mata tazune kurashitsu hototogisu ikade kikubeki hatsune naruramu
- English Translation
-
Today once again
I spent seeking all day long,
O little cuckoo,
how at last am I to hear
that first song of the season
- Meaning
- Today again I spent the whole day searching for you, cuckoo. How am I ever to hear your first song?
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 105
The poet laments having spent yet another day seeking the cuckoo's first song in vain, wondering how he can ever hear it. The eagerness of searching day after day and the frustration of failure are expressed plainly.
From poem 104 through poem 126 in this book, poems on the cuckoo follow one another, expressing every mood around the bird: waiting for its first song, seeking it out, rejoicing at hearing it and lamenting having missed it.
First line, 'kyō mo mata', means today as well, after yesterday, showing that the search has gone on for days.
Second line, 'tazune kurashitsu', means I have spent the day searching, tsu being the perfective auxiliary. The poem breaks after the second line. Like 'the voice I sought' in poem 108, it expresses the heart that goes in search of the cuckoo.
Third line, 'hototogisu', is placed as an address and sets the theme of the lower half.
Fourth line, 'ikade kikubeki', means how can I hear it, the interrogative ikade answering ramu in the final line.
Final line, 'hatsune naruramu', uses hatsune, the first song heard in a year, and the conjectural ramu. Poem 113 in this book, in contrast to this lament, says that every song sounds like the first.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Miyama idete mada sato narenu hototogisu tabi no sora naru ne o ya nakuramu
- Next Poem
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Hototogisu sugata wa mizu ni yadoredomo koe wa utsuranu mono ni zo arikeru