Naki hito no yado ni kayowaba hototogisu kakete ne ni nomi naku to tsugenamu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

亡き人の宿に通はば郭公
かけて音にのみ泣くと告げなむ

Roma-ji: Naki hito no yado ni kayowaba hototogisu kakete ne ni nomi naku to tsugenamu
English Translation: If to the dwelling
of the one who is no more
you go, cuckoo,
tell them that I think of them
and only cry aloud in tears.
Meaning: Cuckoo, if you travel to the dwelling of the one who has died, tell them that I keep them in my heart and do nothing but weep aloud.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 855

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet asks the cuckoo, if it goes to the dwelling of the dead, to tell the departed that he does nothing but weep for them. The cuckoo was thought to travel between this world and the realm of the dead, and the poet entrusts a message for the dead to it.
In 849 of this book as well, the cuckoo's voice calls the departed to mind.
The author is unknown.

The first line, "of the one who is gone," refers to the dead.
The second line, "if you go to the dwelling," treats the underworld as the dead person's home.
The third line, "cuckoo," addresses the bird believed to travel to and from the realm of the dead.
The fourth line, "thinking of them, only aloud," uses kakete, keeping in one's heart, and ne ni naku, to cry aloud. The cuckoo's song and the poet's weeping overlap.
The last line, "tell them I weep," uses namu to express a wish directed at another: "please tell them."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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