Waga seko ga kunie mashinaba hototogisu nakamu satsuki wa sabushikemu kamo

我が背子が国へましなば霍公鳥
鳴かむ五月は寂しけむかも

Roma-ji: Waga seko ga kunie mashinaba hototogisu nakamu satsuki wa sabushikemu kamo
English Translation: If you, my dear friend,
should go home to your own land,
when hototogisu
sing in the fifth month to come,
how lonely it will be
Meaning: If you go away to your home in the capital, how lonely the fifth month will be, when the hototogisu sings.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3996

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems, together with an old poem, four in all, from a farewell banquet for Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, envoy with the tax register, at the residence of Secretary Ōtomo no Sukune Ikenushi on the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month"
If his friend goes away to the capital, the fifth month when the hototogisu sings will be lonely—a poem regretting parting from those who see him off. This is one of the poems from a farewell banquet held on the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month of 747 at the residence of the Secretary Ikenushi for Yakamochi, who was going up to the capital as envoy bearing the tax register. It anticipates the season of the hototogisu, which they would have enjoyed with Yakamochi, as a season made lonely by his absence.
The poet, Kura no Tadamaro, served as Assistant Governor (the second rank of provincial officials) of Etchū.
The left note reads, "The above poem was composed by Assistant Governor Kura no Imiki Tadamaro."

First line, "waga seko ga": an address to a dear friend, meaning Yakamochi.
Second line, "kunie mashinaba": kunie means toward one's home, here the capital, and masu is an honorific auxiliary—"if you should go away."
Third line, "hototogisu": the bird of early summer, one Yakamochi loved.
Fourth line, "nakamu satsuki wa": "the fifth month, when it will sing"; the same line stands in the next poem, 3997.
Fifth line, "sabushikemu kamo": "how lonely it will be," corresponding to "koishikemu kamo" in the preceding poem, 3995.
Author: Kura no Tadamaro
Source: Manyoshu
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