Waga seko o nakoshi no yama no yobukodori kimi yobikaese yo no fukenu to ni

我が背子を莫越の山の呼子鳥
君呼び返せ夜の更けぬとに

Roma-ji: Waga seko o nakoshi no yama no yobukodori kimi yobikaese yo no fukenu to ni
English Translation: My dear husband—
Nakoshi, "Do not cross," the hill,
there the calling bird:
call him back to me, my lord,
before the night grows too late.
Meaning: O calling bird on the hill of Nakoshi, whose name says "let him not cross"—call my husband back to me before the night grows late.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1822

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Birds"
This poem entrusts to the calling bird of the hill of Nakoshi the heart of a woman who longs to hold back her departing husband. It plays on the place name Nakoshi as "do not let him cross," and asks the calling bird, whose very name contains "to call," to summon him back, making deft use of both the place name and the bird's name. Though placed in a group of bird poems, it is deeply colored by love.

The first line, "my husband," uses "seko," a word women used affectionately for a husband or lover, showing that the speaker is a woman.
The second line, "of the hill of Nakoshi," plays on the place name as "na koshi," do not let him cross. Continuing from the first line, it carries the wish that he not go over the hill.
The third line, "yobukodori," names a bird whose cry seems to call people, thought to be the cuckoo or a similar bird. Because its name contains "yobu," to call, it leads into the plea of the next line.
The fourth line, "call him back," is an imperative addressed to the bird. The poem breaks here, and by inversion the last line supplies the reason.
The last line, "yo no fukenu to ni," means before the night grows late. "To ni" means while or before, conveying the urgency of wanting him back before the deep of night.
Source: Manyoshu
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