The Original Poem from ‘Kagero Diary’ (P. 333)
The one who should
Cry joining voices with mine,
The warbler,
Can it be he knows not the new year is already here.

This poem is written by Michitsuna’s Mother, the author of Kagero Diary who is a noble lady during Heian period of Japan. She suffers from a shattered marriage as her husband neither visits nor sends her any message for months. As an attempt to overcome the solitude and emptiness of her disappointing marital life, the author leaves for a pilgrimage to Kamo Shrine. However, the pilgrimage is meaningless - if not miserable - and the New Year comes without any change to the situation. Half of the first month of the New Year passes without any contact from the husband. On the fifteenth night, her son’s servants build a bonfire, and the author steps out to gaze the fire and the mist covered moon and mountain background. At first, she finds the scene beautiful, but eventually it reminds her of her solitude. This prompts her to compose this poem in order to express her present feelings in words. To paraphrase the poem:
He, who is supposed to be, but is not weeping by me, the little bird, might he be oblivious that the date has passed long ago.
The poem consists of two parts. The first three lines express the author’s deep desolation and sorrow. The first part mainly expresses her current emotions. The first line, “the one who should,” implies that she expects and wishes for someone to be with her, and the second line “cry joining voices with mine,” depicts her desire to weep when she writes this poem. The author might have determined to express her wish in the first line and the gloomy reality later, to maximize the effect of contrast between the first and second lines. Then, the author devotes an entire line just to reveal what ‘the one’ from the first line is: the warble. This dramatizes the first two lines and even the poem itself. Any person from the time this poem is written should be able to easily hear the cries of ‘the warbler,’ which often symbolizes the coming of spring. However, the bird, which is supposed to be singing and bringing spring to her, makes no sound. It can be interpreted that her inner world is far from spring and still in winter – frozen and deserted. This drastically emphasizes her sense of isolation and abandonment expressed in the first part.
The last two lines then reveal the reasons behind her melancholic emotions as a response to the first part. Although the words seems to be blaming warbler for not knowing the new year had arrived, it can be inferred from the context that her husband’s apathy towards the author is the genuine target of her resentment. The author accuses her husband of utterly neglecting for her many months and not visiting or writing her even after the New Year had arrived. Nevertheless, the words of her resentment is rather indirect and unassertive, considering the overflowing sadness expressed throughout the poem. These words might be a sign of the author’s despair and resignation about her marriage. As her recent pilgrimage ends disappointingly, she might no longer be motivated to restore the relationship with her husband.