Tokonatsu ni nakite mo henan hototogisu shigeki miyama ni nani kaeruramu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

常夏に鳴きても経なん郭公
しげきみ山になに帰るらむ

Roma-ji: Tokonatsu ni nakite mo henan hototogisu shigeki miyama ni nani kaeruramu
English Translation: As if it were summer
forever, sing on and stay here,
little cuckoo, please;
to the deep and leafy mountains
why must you go back again?
Meaning: I wish you would stay and sing here, as if summer would last forever, little cuckoo—why must you go back to the deep and leafy mountains?
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 180

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet wishes the cuckoo would stay and sing here as if it were always summer, and wonders why it returns to the thick-grown mountains. Grieving at the bird's departure, he shows a heart that would hold it back.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Tokonatsu ni," means "as if it were summer forever." Later, in 198 and after in this book, "tokonatsu" is sung as another name for the pink.
In the second line, "nan" expresses a wish: "I wish you would sing and stay."
The third line, "hototogisu," is a call, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "shigeki miyama ni," means "to the deep mountains thick with trees," naming the mountains to which the cuckoo returns at summer's end.
In the last line, "nani" means "why," and "ramu" is an auxiliary conjecturing a cause: "why must it return?" He wonders at the departing bird.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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