Iro kaenu hanatachibana ni hototogisu chiyo o naraseru koe kikoyu nari - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

色変へぬ花橘に郭公
千代をならせる声聞こゆなり

Roma-ji: Iro kaenu hanatachibana ni hototogisu chiyo o naraseru koe kikoyu nari
English Translation: In the orange blossoms
that never change their color,
the little cuckoo,
singing as for a thousand years,
its voice, it seems, I can hear
Meaning: In the orange tree whose color never changes, I seem to hear the cuckoo singing, as if rehearsing a thousand years.
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 186

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet seems to hear the cuckoo singing in the never-changing orange blossoms, as if rehearsing a thousand years. In the pairing of the evergreen orange and the cuckoo, he sets a celebratory wish for unchanging long life.
The tachibana orange, an evergreen whose leaves never change color, was taken as a sign of long life, and was sung together with the cuckoo as an emblem of early summer.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Iro kaenu," means "that does not change its color," naming the evergreen nature of the orange.
The second line, "hanatachibana ni," means "in the orange tree in bloom." Orange blossoms also appear in 188 of this book.
The third line, "hototogisu," places the cuckoo as a bird that comes to sing in orange blossoms. Orange and cuckoo are a classic pairing of early summer.
In the fourth line, "naraseru" means "accustoming," describing the cuckoo singing as if rehearsing a span of a thousand years. "Ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri."
In the last line, "nari" is an inference from sound: "its voice seems to be heard."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tsurezure to nagamuru sora no hototogisu tou ni tsukete zo ne wa nakare keru
Next Poem: Tabine shite tsumagoi surashi hototogisu kannabiyama ni sayo fukete naku