Left
This poem is missing from extant copies of the text of the contest.
Right
夏虫にあらぬ我が身のつれもなき人をおもひにもゆる比かな
| natsumushi ni aranu wa ga mi no tsure mo naki hito o omoi ni moyuru koro kana | A summer insect I am not, but That heartless Girl, with passion Has these days set me burning! |
63[1]
[1] Shinchokusenshū XII: 708
A poem from the Poetry Contest held by the Empress Dowager during the Reign of the Kanpyō Emperor.
夏虫にあらぬ我が身のつれもなき人をおもひにもゆる比かな
| natsumushi ni aranu wa ga mi no tsure mo naki hito o omoi ni moyuru koro kana | A summer insect I am not, but That heartless Girl, with passion Has these days set me burning! |
Anonymous
Summer
Left
夏くればかみにあふひの草つみてかざしにいのるひとにばかりぞ
| natsu kureba kami ni aoi no kusa tsumite kazashi ni inoru hito ni bakari zo | When the summer comes For the God, hollyhocks Are plucked, and for a Prayer placed in the hair of All folk, every one! |
7
夏草も茂りにければ駿河なる田子のうらなへ今やひくらん
| natsu kusa mo shigerinikereba suruga naru tago no ura nae ima ya hikuran | The summer grasses, too, Have grown lush, so As Suruga’s Tago Bay, Do they now extend their charm? |
8
夏虫のやどるにまつは色ならで春秋空にうつろひやする
| natsumushi no yadoru ni matsu wa iro narade haru aki sora ni utsuroi ya suru | The summer insects Lodge upon the pines Unchanging hues; Is it the spring and autumn skies Which fade away? |
9
Right
卯花の咲く夏の夜はやみなれどかきねにやどる月かとぞみる
| u no hana no saku natsu no yo wa yami naredo kakine ni yadoru tsuki ka to zo miru | The deutzia flowers Bloom upon a summer night ‘Tis dark, yet Lodged upon my brushwood fence I wonder if I see the moon? |
10
五月きぬことかたらはむほととぎす君にあふちの花も咲きけり
| satsuki kinu koto katarawamu hototogisu kimi ni auchi no hana mo sakikeri | That the Fifth Month has come Is announced by The cuckoo: For you, the chinaberry Blossoms, too, have bloomed. |
11
空蝉のからにはあらで置く露の身をあらたむる心なるべし
| utsusemi no kara ni wa arade oku tsuyu no mi o aratamuru kokoro narubeshi | A cicada’s shed Shell I am not, for The dripping dew Does refresh my flesh, or So my heart seems to feel. |
12
When Princess Katsura had said ‘Catch some fireflies,’ and one of the boys had them wrapped up in the sleeves of his jacket.
つつめどもかくれぬ物は夏虫の身よりあまれる思ひなりけり
| tutumedomo kakurenu mono Fa natumusi no mi yori amareru omoFinarikeri | Wrapped up, yet Unconcealable are The summer insects: Their bodies bringing an excess Of passion’s fires. |
Anonymous