Hototogisu kinaku satsuki no mijikayo mo hitori shi nureba akashikanetsu mo

霍公鳥来鳴く五月の短夜も
ひとりし寝れば明かしかねつも

Roma-ji: Hototogisu kinaku satsuki no mijikayo mo hitori shi nureba akashikanetsu mo
English Translation: Hototogisu
comes and sings in the fifth month,
yet the short nights too,
when I sleep here all alone,
I can hardly bring to dawn.
Meaning: Even the short nights of the Fifth Month, when the hototogisu comes to sing, are hard to bring to dawn when I sleep alone.
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1981

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through Birds"
This poem laments that even the short nights of the Fifth Month, when the hototogisu sings, feel long when sleeping alone and are hard to bring to dawn. The contrast between the fact of summer's short nights and the felt length of a night alone brings out the depth of longing. Whereas the spring love poems repeatedly lamented long spring days, the summer love poems lament the length of short summer nights, a contrast of day and night, long and short.

The first line, "hototogisu," names the summer bird and sets the scene of a Fifth Month night.
The second line, "of the Fifth Month when it comes to sing," names the season.
The third line, "even the short nights," uses "mo" with the sense of even.
In the fourth line, "hitori shi nureba," "shi" is emphatic, stressing the loneliness of sleeping alone.
In the last line, "akashikanetsu mo," "kanu" means to be unable, "tsu" marks completion, and "mo" is exclamatory, closing with a lament at being unable to pass the night.
Source: Manyoshu
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