Motsu hito hototogisu o ya mezurashiku ima ka na ga kuru koitsutsu oreba

本つ人霍公鳥をやめづらしく
今か汝が来る恋ひつつ居れば

Roma-ji: Motsu hito hototogisu o ya mezurashiku ima ka na ga kuru koitsutsu oreba
English Translation: My old friend of yore,
hototogisu, is it you
coming, fresh and new,
here to me at last right now,
while I have been longing so?
Meaning: My old friend, hototogisu—do you come now, so fresh and welcome, just as I have been longing for you?
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1962

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Birds"
This poem rejoices that the hototogisu, an old acquaintance, has come again this year just when the poet was longing for it. Calling the bird that visits every year "motsu hito," an old friend, with affection, it greets the long-awaited reunion with fresh delight. It may also be read as overlaying the bird with the image of someone known long ago.

The first line, "motsu hito," means an old friend, here personifying the hototogisu.
In the second line, "hototogisu o ya," "ya" is an interrogative particle, and with "ka" in the fourth line it creates a questioning tone.
The third line, "mezurashiku," means fresh and appealing.
In the fourth line, "ima ka na ga kuru," "ka" is an interrogative particle in kakari-musubi with the attributive "kuru."
The last line, "while I was longing," gives by inversion the heart that had been waiting.
Source: Manyoshu
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