Are nashi to na wabi waga seko hototogisu nakamu satsuki wa tama o nukasane

我れなしとなわび我が背子霍公鳥
鳴かむ五月は玉を貫かさね

Roma-ji: Are nashi to na wabi waga seko hototogisu nakamu satsuki wa tama o nukasane
English Translation: "He is not here now"—
do not grieve so, my dear friend;
when hototogisu
sing in the fifth month to come,
thread your festival beads
Meaning: Do not grieve that I am gone, my friend; in the fifth month, when the hototogisu sings, thread your festival beads and enjoy yourselves.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3997

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"
Do not grieve because he is gone; in the fifth month when the hototogisu sings, thread the festival beads—a reply consoling Tadamaro. 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. Sympathizing with the loneliness of those staying behind, he cheers them by urging them to enjoy the fifth-month festival.
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 poem is Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi's reply."

First line, "are nashi to": "because I am not there."
Second line, "na wabi waga seko": na expresses prohibition—"do not grieve, my friend." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "hototogisu": taken directly from the third line of the preceding poem, 3996.
Fourth line, "nakamu satsuki wa": the same as the fourth line of 3996, answering by taking up the other's words, in the manner of matched poems.
Fifth line, "tama o nukasane": sa is honorific and ne a particle of request—"please thread the festival beads." The old poem that follows, 3998, is offered as if in answer to this line with "I thread them as beads."
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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