As a spring poem:
あづさゆみはる山ちかくいゑゐしてたえずきゝつる鶯のこゑ
| azusayumi haru yama chikaku ie ishite taezu kikituru uguisu no koe |
A catalpa bow Drawn – the mountains in springtime, nearby I dwell, Hearing endlessly The warbler’s song. |
Yamabe no Akahito
山部赤人
Around the Twelfth month, a bitter man who had knocked at her gate and then returned home, sent to her asking if her gate would be open in the new year; so she composed this in reply:
誰が里の春のたよりにうぐひすの霞に閉づる宿を訪うらん
| ta ga sato no Faru no tayori ni uguFisu no kasumi ni toduru yado wo touran |
To whose house, indeed! Bearing spring missives, Would the warbler, To a haze-hidden House, come visiting? |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部
When people were offering poems in the Empress’ palace, he composed this on a warbler in the rain.
春雨は降りしむれども鶯の聲はしほれぬ物にぞありける
| Faruzame Fa Furisimuredomo uguFisu no kowe Fa siForenu mono ni zo arikeru |
Spring rain Falling seeps through all, yet The warbler’s Voice undampened Is. |
Minamoto no Toshiyori
源俊頼
From a folding screen with a picture of the moon, in the Engi period (901-23).
あらたまの年立歸朝より待たるゝ物は鶯の聲
| aratama no tosi tatikaFeru asita yori mataruru mono Fa uguFisu no kowe |
Once again anew The year is come upon us; And by the ’morrow We will have waited long To hear the warbler’s song. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師