Itoma nami kimasanu kimi ni hototogisu are kaku kou to yukite tsugekoso

暇なみ来まさぬ君に霍公鳥
我れかく恋ふと行きて告げこそ

Roma-ji: Itoma nami kimasanu kimi ni hototogisu are kaku kou to yukite tsugekoso
English Translation: Having no spare time,
to my love who does not come,
O cuckoo, you bird,
that I long for him like this,
go and tell him, if you will
Meaning: O cuckoo, go to the one who does not come because he has no time, and tell him how deeply I long for him.
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Love Poems 1498

Headnote: "A poem by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
The poet asks the cuckoo to fly to the one who does not visit, pleading business, and tell him of her longing. The summer bird is made a messenger of love. The poem stands at the head of the summer love poems.
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She was the aunt of Ōtomo no Yakamochi and later also his mother-in-law, and she left many poems in the Man'yōshū.

The first line, in the "... mi" form, means "because he has no time." Prince Takayasu's 1504 in this book opens with the same line and laments from the side of one too busy to visit, so the one who waits and the one who cannot come form a pair.
The second line means "to you who do not come," using the honorific "masu."
The third line is an address to the cuckoo, the bird that is to carry her message.
The fourth line, "that I long like this," is the content of the message she wants delivered.
The final line, with the desiderative "koso," asks it to go and tell him. Poems sending the cuckoo as a messenger continue in 1505 and 1506 of this book, so the conceit of entrusting feelings to a bird runs through the summer love poems.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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