hisakata no ama tobu kari no namida kamo ōarakino no sasa no ue no tsuyu
Eternal Heaven-flying goose Tears, perhaps? Upon Ōaraki Plain, Dew upon the dwarf-bamboo…[1]
[1] An allusive variation on: Topic unknown. なきわたるかりの涙やおちつらむ物思ふやどの萩のうへのつゆ nakiwataru / kari no namida ya / ochitsuran / mono’omou yado no / hagi no ue no tsuyu ‘Calling across / Did the geese let tears / Fall? / My dwelling, lost in thought, / Has dew upon the bush clover.’ Anonymous (KKS IV:221); and: 如是為而也 尚哉将老 三雪零 大荒木野之 小竹尓不有九二 kakushite ya / nao ya oinuramu / miyuki furu / ōarakino no / shino ni aranaku ni ‘Is this how it is to be? / Have I yet grown old / Though covered with fair snow / On Ōaraki Plain / An arrow-bamboo I am not…’ Anonymous (MYS VII: 1349).
[1] This poem is an acrostic, where the syllables of the word ‘maidenflower’ (ominaeshi) are included as part of other words in the poem. It is thus understood that the final reference to ‘flowers’ (hana 花) is to these.
