Ta ga sato ni yogare o shite ka hototogisu tada koko ni shimo netaru koe suru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

誰が里に夜離れをしてか郭公
ただここにしも寝たる声する

Roma-ji: Ta ga sato ni yogare o shite ka hototogisu tada koko ni shimo netaru koe suru
English Translation: At whose village home
have you broken off your nights,
O hototogisu,
that right here, of all the places,
you sing with a sleeping voice?
Meaning: O cuckoo, whose village have you stopped visiting by night, that here, of all places, you sing in a voice as if you were sleeping?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 710

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Hearing a cuckoo sing near her house in a voice as if it were sleeping, the speaker asks whether it has stopped visiting some other village by night. Through the cuckoo she watches the fickleness of a man who has abandoned another woman to come here, and lets slip her fear that she too will one day meet the same fate.
Following the laments over fickle lovers in the two preceding poems, it expresses a man's changeability through the seasonal image of the cuckoo's song. In 719 of this book too, thoughts on a changed heart are voiced by calling out to the cuckoo.

The first line, "ta ga sato ni," means "to whose village," hinting at another woman.
The second line, "yogare o shite ka," means "have you stopped your nightly visits?", with the particle "ka" forming a kakari-musubi with "suru" in the last line.
The third line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo, a bird that sings on summer nights and also appears in love poems; here it is addressed directly.
The fourth line, "tada koko ni shimo," means "here of all places," "shimo" being an emphatic particle.
The final line, "netaru koe suru," means "there is a voice as if sleeping," closing with the attributive "suru" in answer to the "ka" of the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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