Love as a Month Passes 経月恋
あひみての後も五月をいむとてやみそかにだにも音せざるらん
aimite no nochi mo satsuki o imu tote ya misoka ni dani mo otosezaruran | We met and Then for the Fifth Month Would refrain, did you say? Yet even now the thirtieth day has come, There’s not a sound from you! |
Tadafusa
五月来ば信太の杜の時鳥木伝ふ千枝の数ごとに鳴け
satsuki koba
shinoda no mori no
hototogisu
ko tsutau chie no
kazugoto ni nake |
When the summer comes,
In Shinoda’s sacred grove
Cuckoos
Annouce the tree’s thousand branches
With a song for every one! |
Minamoto no Shunrai
あるが上に花の咲きそふ橘は皐月の玉に貫かむためなり
aru ga ue ni
hana no sakisou
tachibana wa
satsuki no tama ni
nukamu tame nari |
Up above
Blossom blooms close by:
Oranges –
Jewels of summer
For the threading! |
Fujiwara no Nakazane (1064-1122)
藤原仲実
皐月闇我が待つ人は来まさねと花橘の香にぞなぐさむ
satsuki yami
wa ga matsu hito wa
kimasane to
hanatachibana no
ka ni zo nagusamu |
In the summer dark
I await a man who
Now says he’ll not come;
The orange blossoms’
Scent will be my consolation… |
Ōe no Masafusa
大江匡房
Topic unknown.
郭公鳴くやさ月の短夜も一人し寝れば明しかねつも
Fototogisu
naku ya satuki no
mizika yo mo
Fitori si nureba
akasikanetu mo |
A cuckoo
Calls on a Fifth Month’s
Brief night;
Sleeping alone, yet
The dawn brings only pain… |
Anonymous
鵜川には皐月の闇もなかりけりくだればくだす舟の篝火
ukawa ni wa
satsuki no yami mo
nakarikeri
kudareba kudasu
fune no kagaribi |
To the cormorant river
The Fifth Month’s dark
Has not come;
For when it falls, also do
The boats’ torches! |
Shunzei
'Simply moving and elegant'