Imo ga mite nochi mo nakanamu hototogisu hanatachibana o tsuchi ni chirashitsu

妹が見て後も鳴かなむ霍公鳥
花橘を地に散らしつ

Roma-ji: Imo ga mite nochi mo nakanamu hototogisu hanatachibana o tsuchi ni chirashitsu
English Translation: After you had seen,
then you might have sung, I wished,
O cuckoo, you bird:
the orange tree's blossoms
you have scattered on the ground
Meaning: If only the cuckoo had waited to sing until you had seen them; it has scattered the orange blossoms on the ground.
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Love Poems 1509

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem [with tanka] by Ōtomo no Yakamochi, sent to the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue with orange blossoms he broke off," envoy
The poet laments that the cuckoo came and sang and scattered the orange blossoms on the ground, when he wished it had waited until his beloved had seen them. It is the second envoy to the long poem 1507; following the long poem's curse of the "wretched cuckoo," it adds to his resentment of the bird that scattered the flowers.
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 recipient, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, was the daughter of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue and Yakamochi's cousin, and later became his wife.

The first line means "after my love has seen them."
The second line, with the desiderative particle "namu," wishes it had sung only after that.
The third line addresses the bird that scattered the flowers, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line names the orange blossoms he wished to show.
The final line, with the perfective "tsu," states that it has scattered them on the ground. Ōtomo no Murakami's 1493 in this book also sings that the cuckoo "scattered them at the foot of the tree," and here the same scene is turned into the reproach of love.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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