The White Peril 白禍

It's been a pretty rainless rainy season so far. The weather's lovely--not always sunny, but mild and warm. I've been trying to force myself not to be outdoors too much too soon, without much success. (I burn very easily.) Since it's officially early summer, and I haven't posted about poetry for, like, ever, here's yet another from the Princess Shokushi:

声はして雲路にむせぶ郭公涙やそそく宵の村雨

式子内親王

koe ha shite / kumodji ni musebu / hototogisu / namida ya sosoku / yoi no murasame
Shokushi-Naishinno

Your voice, I can hear--
as you cut a sobbing path
through clouds, O cuckoo,
are your tears pouring down, too?
A burst of rain at twilight
--The Princess Shokushi

Imagining that the fleeting rainshower is caused by the equally fleeting flight of the cuckoo overhead, the princess wonders whether its crying voice (which she can hear) is accompanied by falling tears (which she can't see).