Lying in my bed I listen as it sings of the far-off past: a mosquito

寝て聞けば遠き昔を鳴く蚊かな

nete kikeba tōki mukashi o naku ka kana

(Ozaki Hōsai 尾崎放哉)

*

A mosquito, ka, is a season word associated with summer. The scene is probably one where the poet is within a mosquito net (a summer season word in its own right) while the mosquito flies around it trying to find a way in. This type of scene has a long history in Japanese poetry and literature, hence the association with the distant past.

Paper lanterns rushing to the scene of a fire; riverbank fog

提灯が火事にとぶ也河岸の霧

chōchin ga kaji ni tobu nari kashi no kiri

(Ozaki Hōsai 尾崎放哉)

*

The word nari functions as a copula (similar to “is”), with everything preceding it being subordinated to an implicit noun such as “a situation”, “a matter”, etc. This construction is commonly used for giving an interpretation or explanation of observed facts, and a rough English equivalent would be: “what is happening here is that lanterns are rushing to the fire”. The explanatory tone is necessary in this case because the fog makes it impossible to directly see what is going on.

A kite broken loose, its string tangled in plum branches

きれ凧の糸かかりけり梅の枝

kiretako no ito kakarikeri ume no eda

(Ozaki Hōsai 尾崎放哉)