Ware nomi shi kikeba sabushi mo hototogisu Nifu no yamabe ni iyuki nakanimo

我れのみし聞けば寂しも霍公鳥
丹生の山辺にい行き鳴かにも

Roma-ji: Ware nomi shi kikeba sabushi mo hototogisu Nifu no yamabe ni iyuki nakanimo
English Translation: If I alone
listen to it, how lonely—
little cuckoo,
to the hills of Nifu
fly off and sing there, I pray
Meaning: It is lonely to listen to you all by myself, little cuckoo—won't you fly off to the hills of Nifu and sing there?
Commentary: Book Nineteen 4178

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the third day of the fourth month, a cuckoo poem sent to Ōtomo no Sukune Ikenushi, Secretary of Echizen, expressing feelings, unable to bear my longing for old times, with short poems"
The first envoy to a long poem sent to Ōtomo no Ikenushi in Echizen, it says that listening to the cuckoo alone is lonely, so the poet asks the bird to go and sing on the mountainside of Nifu, where Ikenushi is. It is filled with nostalgia for the days when the two listened to the cuckoo together in Etchū.
Ōtomo no Ikenushi was of Yakamochi's clan and had once served under him as Secretary of Etchū; they were close friends who exchanged many poems, but by this time Ikenushi had been transferred to serve as Secretary of Echizen. Nifu lies in the area of Nifu District in Echizen, and refers to hills near the provincial headquarters where Ikenushi was stationed.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Grand Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. From 746 he served as Governor of Etchū, living at the provincial headquarters in what is now Fushiki, Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture. He is regarded as the leading poet of the Nara period and is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.

First line, "ware nomi shi" (I alone): "shi" is emphatic, stressing the poet's solitude.
Second line, "kikeba sabushi mo" (listening, how lonely): "mo" is exclamatory, and the poem pauses here. It takes up the long poem's "listening alone, how lonely."
Third line, "hototogisu" (O cuckoo), is an address, the turning point where the poet entrusts his wish to the bird.
Fourth line, "Nifu no yamabe ni" (to the hills of Nifu), names the place in Echizen where Ikenushi lives, pointing to the distant friend.
Fifth line, "iyuki nakanimo" (go and sing there, I wish): "i" is a prefix and "nimo" expresses a wish directed at another, closing with the hope that the bird will go and sing.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Waga kado yu naki sugiwataru hototogisu iya natsukashiku kikedo akitarazu
Next Poem: Hototogisu yonaki o shitsutsu waga seko o yasui na neshime yume kokoro are