Tachibana no nioeru ka kamo hototogisu naku yo no ame ni utsuroinuramu

橘のにほへる香かも霍公鳥
鳴く夜の雨にうつろひぬらむ

Roma-ji: Tachibana no nioeru ka kamo hototogisu naku yo no ame ni utsuroinuramu
English Translation: The orange blossoms'
lovely fragrance—has it too,
while the hototogisu
sings through the rain of the night,
faded and drifted away
Meaning: The sweet scent of the orange blossoms—has it faded away in the night rain where the hototogisu sings?
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3916

Headnote: "Six poems composed on the fifth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year, while living alone at my old house in Heijō"
Has the lovely scent of the orange blossoms faded in the night rain where the hototogisu sings?—a poem imagining flowers fading on a rainy night. This is one of six poems Yakamochi composed on the fifth day of the fourth month of 744, living alone in his old house at Heijō, which had become a former capital as the court moved from Kuni to Naniwa. On a night in the old capital, now emptied of people, amid the sound of rain and the bird's call, he lays his loneliness over the passing of the flowers' scent.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "The above six poems were composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the fifth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Tenpyō, living alone in his old house in his home town of Heijō."

First line, "tachibana no": opening on the orange blossoms; 3918 in this book also begins "tachibana no nioeru," so the scent of tachibana recurs through the six.
Second line, "nioeru ka kamo": niou means to glow with color and to be fragrant, and kamo, a wondering question, answers ramu in the last line.
Third line, "hototogisu": the bird paired with the tachibana, adding its voice to the night scene.
Fourth line, "naku yo no ame ni": the rain falling on the night the hototogisu sings, set here as what scatters the scent.
Fifth line, "utsuroinuramu": utsurou means for color or scent to fade; nu is perfective and ramu conjecture—"has it faded?", imagining a change he cannot see.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ashihiki no yamatani koete nozukasa ni ima wa nakuramu uguisu no koe
Next Poem: Hototogisu yogoe natsukashi ami sasaba hana wa sugu tomo karezu ka nakamu