U no hana no sakeru kakine no tsuki kiyomi inezu kike to ya naku hototogisu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

卯の花の咲ける垣根の月清み
寝ねず聞けとや鳴くほととぎす

Roma-ji: U no hana no sakeru kakine no tsuki kiyomi inezu kike to ya naku hototogisu
English Translation: Deutzia blossoms
bloom along the hedge, the moon
shines so clear above—
do not sleep, but listen, it says?
the little cuckoo singing
Meaning: The moon shines so clear over the hedge where the deutzia blooms—is the cuckoo telling me not to sleep, but to listen, as it sings?
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 148

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
On a night when the moon shines clear over a hedge of deutzia blossoms, the cuckoo sings as if to say, do not sleep, but listen. Layering white blossoms, a clear moon, and the cuckoo's voice, the poem conveys a sleeplessness born of the beauty of an early summer night.
Deutzia and cuckoo form the classic pairing of early summer, and poems on deutzia hedges continue through the first part of this book.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.

The first line, "U no hana no," names the deutzia, which bears white flowers in early summer. From 151 to 156, this book continues with poems on deutzia hedges.
In the second line, "ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri": "the hedge where it is blooming." 153, 154, and 155 of this book also set deutzia blooming on a "kakine," a hedge.
The third line, "tsuki kiyomi," means "because the moon is clear," using the so-called mi construction, in which "mi" added to an adjective stem gives a reason.
The fourth line, "inezu kike to ya," means "is it telling me not to sleep but to listen?" with "ya" as an interrogative particle.
In the last line, "naku" is attributive and completes the kakarimusubi pattern begun by "ya" in the fourth line. Ending on a noun, the poem lets the cuckoo's song linger.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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