Left
なつの日のくるるもしらず鳴く蝉をとひもしてしか何ごとかうき
natsu no hi no
kururu mo shirazu
naku semi o
toi mo shiteshika
nani goto ka uki | Of the summer sun’s
Setting unaware are
The singing cicadas:
Had I but asked them of it,
What would they despise? |
70
Right
あやめ草いくらの五月あひくらむ来る年毎にわかく見ゆらむ
ayamegusa
ikura no satsuki
aikuramu
kuru toshigoto ni
wakaku miyuramu | O, sweet flags!
In how many Fifth Months
Have you come to meet me?
With every turning year
You seem younger to me! |
71
五月雨は宿につく間の菖蒲草軒の雫に枯れしとぞ思ふ
samidare wa
yado ni tsuku ma no
ayamegusa
noki no shizuku ni
kareshi to zo omou |
When the showers
Touch my roof
The sweet-flags by
Droplets on the eaves
Are all dried up, I feel! |
Ōe no Masafusa
Two poems composed on birds.
霍公鳥今来鳴きそむあやめぐさかづらくまでに離るる日あらめや
pototogisu
ima kinakisomu
ayamegusa
kaduraku made ni
karuru pi arame ya |
The cuckoo
Has now begun to sing;
Until sweet-flags
Garland all
Will there be any days he flies away? |
Ōtomo no Yakamochi
Composed as a poem on sweet flags.
五月雨にぬれぬれひかむ菖蒲草ぬまの岩垣浪もこそ越せ
samidare ni
nurenure Fikamu
ayamegusa
numa no iFagaki
nami mo koso kose |
In the constant drizzling rain,
Soaked, let us pick
Sweet-flags;
Over the stony border of the marsh
Waves are breaking. |
The Regent and Former Minister of the Right [Fujiwara no Kanezane]
藤原兼実
'Simply moving and elegant'