Topic unknown.
いくばくの田をつくればか郭公しでのたをさをあさなあさなよぶ
ikubaku no
ta wo tukureba ka
Fototogisu
side no tawosa wo
asa na asa na yobu |
How many
Fields does he plough,
Yon cuckoo?
‘Hey! It’s the field boss!’
He calls, morning after morning! |
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
During the summer of the year following Lord Fujiwara no Takatsune’s death, he heard a cuckoo sing and composed this:
郭公けさなくこゑにおどろけば君を別れし時にぞありける
Fototogisu
kesa naku kowe ni
odorokeba
kimi wo wakaresi
toki ni zo arikeru |
The cuckoo’s
Calling cry this morning
Startled me, for
You left us
At just this time. |
Tsurayuki
貫之
Topic unknown.
五月山こずゑを高みほととぎす鳴くねそらなる戀もする哉
satuki yama
kozuwe wo takami
Fototogisu
naku ne sora naru
koFi mo suru kana |
In the summer mountains
From the treetop heights
Cuckoos’
Calls fill the sky
As does my love. |
Ki no Tsurayuki
紀貫之
Topic unknown.
郭公なくやさ月のあやめぐさあやめもしらぬこひもするかな
Fototogisu
naku ya satuki no
ayamegusa
ayame mo siranu
koFi mo suru kana |
A cuckoo
Singing! Summer
Sweet flags,
Have opened my eyes,
To this love. |
Anonymous.
Topic unknown.
こぞの夏なきふるしてし郭公それかあらぬかこゑのかはらぬ
kozo no natu
nakiFurusitesi
Fototogisu
sore ka aranu ka
kowe no kaFaranu |
Last summer
Did you sing as if there’d be no other,
O, cuckoo;
Is it you, or another,
For your song is quite unchanged. |
Anonymous
A poem from the Poetry Competition held at the residence of the Empress during the Kanpyō period (889-898).
夏山にこひしき人やいりにけむ聲ふりたててなく郭公
natuyama ni
koFisiki Fito ya
irinikemu
kowe Furitatete
naku Fototogisu |
Into the summer mountains
Has my darling
Gone, I wonder?
Spilling out your song,
O, calling cuckoo! |
Ki no Akimine
紀秋岑
Composed on hearing a cuckoo call.
郭公我とはなしに卯花のうき世中になきわたるらむ
Fototogisu
ware to Fa nasi ni
u no Fana no
uki yo no naka ni
nakiwataruran |
Oh, cuckoo,
You are not me, yet
Drooping as a faded flower
In this cruel world of men
You cry on. |
Mitsune
躬恒
Composed on hearing a cuckoo calling from a place where he had lived before.
むかしべや今もこひしき郭公ふるさとにしもなきてきつらむ
mukasiFe ya
ima mo koFisiki
Fototogisu
Furusato ni si mo
nakite kituramu |
What was once,
Is it still so dear?
For the cuckoo
To the home of yesteryear
Has come to sing. |
Tadamine
忠岑
Composed on hearing a cuckoo calling in the mountains.
郭公人まつ山になくなれば我うちつけにこひまさりけり
Fototogisu
Fito matuyama ni
naku nareba
ware utituke ni
koFi masarikeri |
A cuckoo to
A man on Pine Mount
Calls and so
Suddenly within me
Yearning overflows. |
Tsurayuki
貫之
Composed when some courtiers, drinking wine the Attendance Chamber, called him in and told him to compose a poem on ‘waiting for the cuckoo.’
ほととぎすこゑもきこえず山びこはほかになくねをこたへやはせぬ
Fototogisu
kowe mo kikoezu
yamabiko Fa
Foka ni naku ne wo
kotaFe ya Fa senu |
The cuckoo’s
Call is silent-
But an echo
Of a song sung elsewhere,
Might not that return to us? |
Mitsune
躬恒
'Simply moving and elegant'