Waga yado no hanatachibana o hototogisu kinakazu tsuchi ni chirashitemu to ka

我が宿の花橘を霍公鳥
来鳴かず地に散らしてむとか

Roma-ji: Waga yado no hanatachibana o hototogisu kinakazu tsuchi ni chirashitemu to ka
English Translation: In my garden here
the orange tree in flower:
does the cuckoo mean,
never coming here to sing,
to let it fall to the ground?
Meaning: The orange blossoms in my garden: does the cuckoo mean to let them fall to the ground without ever coming to sing?
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1486

Headnote: "Two poems by Ōtomo no Yakamochi resenting the cuckoo's late singing"
Though the orange blossoms are out in his garden, the cuckoo has not come to sing, and the poet reproaches it: does it mean to let the flowers fall in vain? His longing for the charm of early summer, complete only with both flower and bird, finds voice as resentment.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.

The first line names his own garden.
The second line names the orange tree in flower. Ōtomo no Murakami's 1493 in this book opens with the same words, "the orange blossoms of my garden ... the cuckoo," but sings that the cuckoo came, sang, and scattered them. Whether it scatters them by not coming or by coming forms a contrasting pair.
The third line names the bird whose visit is awaited.
The fourth line, "not coming to sing, to the ground," has an extra syllable.
The final line adds "to ka" to the perfective "te" and volitional "mu," blaming the cuckoo: does it mean to scatter them?
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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