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Kokinshu #220
Saturday, 17 March 2012 09:06 Topic unknown.
The lower leaves
of the autumn bush-clover
are changing colors.
From now on, won't those who are
alone have trouble sleeping?
akihagi no
shitaba irozuku
ima yori ya
hitori aru hito no
inegateni suru
---L.
The lower leaves
of the autumn bush-clover
are changing colors.
From now on, won't those who are
alone have trouble sleeping?
—15 March 2012
Original author unknown. The point apparently being that as nights get longer and colder, it takes two to stay warm, though an overtone of because of seasonal melancholy is also there. A better final couplet in English would be "Won't those who are alone now / start to have trouble sleeping?" but this doesn't put the same emphasis on the question of "(isn't it) from now on?" as in the original. Again the sequence touches on leaves changing before changing the subject with the next poem.akihagi no
shitaba irozuku
ima yori ya
hitori aru hito no
inegateni suru
---L.