Samidare wa soraoboresuru hototogisu toki ni naku ne wa hito mo togamezu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

五月雨はそらおぼれするほととぎす
時に鳴く音は人もとがめず

Roma-ji: Samidare wa soraoboresuru hototogisu toki ni naku ne wa hito mo togamezu
English Translation: In the early summer rains
the cuckoo feigns not to know:
and yet, when it sings
at its proper season, no one
finds its crying out of place
Meaning: In the season of early summer rains, even a cuckoo that plays innocent may sing, and no one will find fault with a song sung in its proper season.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1044

Headnote: "Reply."
This is the third poem of the sequence on love sung through the things of the Fifth Month, a reply to the preceding poem. Even a cuckoo that feigns ignorance in the early summer rains may sing, and no one faults a song in its season; so she lightly deflects his question. According to the headnote, it is a reply to Kintō's poem.
The author, "Uma no Naishi," was a lady-in-waiting and poet of the mid-Heian period, one of the Later Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "samidare wa," means "in the long rains of the Fifth Month."
In the second line, "soraobore" means feigning ignorance, and the sky of the early summer rains resonates in "sora."
The third line, "hototogisu," takes up the first line of his poem.
The fourth line, "toki ni naku ne wa," means "a cry in its proper season," taking up his "ne": since it sings in its season, the Fifth Month.
The last line, "hito mo togamezu," means "no one will find fault." Without answering his "with what cry should I weep" head-on, she dodges it: just sing in season. In the exchange that follows, too, poems on the cuckoo continue.
Author: Uma no Naishi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Hototogisu itsu ka to machishi ayamegusa kyō wa ika naru ne ni ka nakubeki
Next Poem: Hototogisu koe o kikedo hana no e ni mada fuminarenu mono o koso omoe