Sky above is blue,
Bamboo leaves are rustling through,
In the wind o’er hills.
Thoughts are only with my love,
Whom a farewell I’ve just bid.
(Vol.2-133)

Readers may have come across a number of poems which focus a light on a contrast between nature vs. sentiment, society vs. individual, one season vs. another, quietness vs. sound, et al. By so doing, poets seem to be trying to cause a disturbance on an emotion, thus etching a deep impression in the readers’ mind (or in the mind of the recipient of the poem). This song is one.
This song is understood to have been sung by Hitomaro, when he was leaving his post in Iwami Province (nowadays Shimane Pref.). The love – the wife – he had bid farewell to seemed to be a woman whom he had as a consort during his tenure there – something having happened often during those times?
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“Overlooking Nara Basin from Kasuga Forest, 9/2019 by HM”

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