Uguisu wa ima wa nakamu to katamateba kasumi tanabiki tsuki wa henitsutsu

鴬は今は鳴かむと片待てば
霞たなびき月は経につつ

Roma-ji: Uguisu wa ima wa nakamu to katamateba kasumi tanabiki tsuki wa henitsutsu
English Translation: "Now the warbler
surely will begin to sing,"
so I wait and wait,
yet the haze drifts low and long
and the months keep passing by
Meaning: I keep waiting, thinking that now the warbler will surely sing—but the spring haze trails across the sky, and the months go by.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4030

Headnote: "A poem complaining that the warbler is late to sing"
He waits for the warbler to sing at any moment, yet only the haze trails and the months pass—a poem of complaint at the late warbler. There is no left note, but from its place in the sequence it is taken to be by Yakamochi. It sings of longing for the first song of the warbler in the late spring of Etchū.
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.

First line, "uguisu wa": the bird that heralds spring, presented as the one awaited.
Second line, "ima wa nakamu to": "thinking it will sing at any moment."
Third line, "katamateba": katamatsu means to wait single-mindedly, with ba after the realis. Like 3983, which complained that the hototogisu would not sing, it expresses the impatient waiting for birdsong in Etchū.
Fourth line, "kasumi tanabiki": "the spring haze trailing," marking the deepening of spring.
Fifth line, "tsuki wa henitsutsu": "the months keep passing," trailing off with tsutsu and leaving the lingering feeling of continued waiting.
Author: Ōtomo no Yakamochi (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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