Nagusamuru kokoro wa nashi ni kumogakuri nakiyuku tori no ne nomi shi nakayu

慰むる心はなしに雲隠り
鳴き行く鳥の音のみし泣かゆ

Roma-ji: Nagusamuru kokoro wa nashi ni kumogakuri nakiyuku tori no ne nomi shi nakayu
English Translation: With no heart to find
any comfort anywhere,
like the bird that hides
in the clouds and cries as it goes,
I can only weep aloud
Meaning: With nothing to comfort my heart, like a bird crying as it flies hidden in the clouds, I can only weep aloud.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 898

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Seven poems on suffering for years from grave illness in old age, and on thinking of my children: one long, six short"
The poet laments that, with nothing to console him, he can only weep aloud like a bird crying as it flies hidden in the clouds. Taking up word for word the long poem's closing "I can only weep aloud," he lays a grief with nowhere to go over the image of a bird.
This is one of the tanka among seven poems on suffering for years from grave illness in old age and on thinking of one's children; the seven consist of one long poem and six tanka. The long poem laments that although one would wish life to be peaceful to its end, illness has been added to old age, so that the poet sighs by day and groans by night, and though he thinks of dying he cannot bring himself to abandon his noisy children. The left note dates it to the third day of the sixth month of Tenpyō 5.
The poet, Yamanoue no Okura, was an official who went to Tang China as a junior secretary with the embassy appointed in Taihō 1. After his return he served as Governor of Hōki and in the household of the Crown Prince, and late in the Jinki era he was posted to Tsukushi as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems rooted in everyday life, on the sufferings of human existence, love for family, and poverty, written against a background of learning in Chinese classics and Buddhist scripture.

First line, "nagusamuru": "that consoles," modifying "kokoro" next.
Second line, "kokoro wa nashi ni": "with no heart to be consoled."
Third line, "kumogakuri": "hidden in the clouds," picturing the bird that follows. The third and fourth lines work as a preface leading to "ne" (voice) in the last line.
Fourth line, "nakiyuku tori no": "like a bird that cries as it flies."
Fifth line, "ne nomi shi nakayu": "ne" is voice and "yu" spontaneous: I cannot help weeping aloud. It is the same as the long poem's last line.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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