宿近くしばし語らへほととぎす
待つ夜の数の積もるしるしに
待つ夜の数の積もるしるしに
- Roma-ji
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Yado chikaku shibashi katarae hototogisu matsu yo no kazu no tsumoru shirushi ni
- English Translation
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Near to my dwelling
stay a while and sing to me,
O little cuckoo,
as a token of the nights
I have waited, mounting high
- Meaning
- Stay a while and sing near my house, cuckoo, as a token of all the nights I have spent waiting for you.
- Commentary
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Book Two Summer Poems 119
The poet calls on the cuckoo to sing near her house for a while, as a token of the many nights she has waited. The wish for a reward for long waiting is expressed simply by speaking to the bird.
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.
The author, Taikenmon'in no Horikawa, was a daughter of Minamoto no Akinaka and a poet and lady-in-waiting to Taikenmon'in. She had earlier served the former Kamo Priestess, Princess Reishi, under the name Rokujō. She was the elder sister of Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe, and one of her poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, 'yado chikaku', means near my house.
Second line, 'shibashi katarae', uses kataru, a poetic word for the cuckoo's singing, in the imperative. The poem breaks after the second line and the lower half is inverted.
Third line, 'hototogisu', is the one addressed.
Fourth line, 'matsu yo no kazu no', is the number of nights spent waiting; like 'the count of sleepless nights' in poem 110 in this book, it counts the nights of waiting for the cuckoo.
Final line, 'tsumoru shirushi ni', means as a sign of their piling up, expressing the wish to be rewarded for so many nights of waiting.
- Author
- Taikenmon-in no Horikawa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Hototogisu honomeku koe o izukata to kiki madowashitsu akebono no sora
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Hototogisu mare ni naku yo wa yamabiko no kotauru sae zo ureshikarikeru