Hyakunin Isshu #91

[lnhammer]

    The crickets cry out,
and on a frosty autumn night,
    I spread out a robe
on a single cold straw mat --
must I really sleep alone?

—19 April 2010

Original by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, grandson of Tadamichi (#76) and nephew of Jien (#95). The last line is the same as Hitomaru's (#3), though the mo is merely emphatic here, plus it alludes another older poem about making a cold, solitary bed. Other possible inspirations have been proposed. Traditional bedding used thick robes instead of blankets -- and when a couple slept together, they used both their robes. I took a little liberty in moving "single" (kata, literally one of a pair) from the verb "to spread" to the mat -- mostly, I admit, to make it flow better.


kirigirisu
naku ya shimoyo no
sa-mushiro ni
koromo katashiki
hitori ka mo nemu

---L.