Koishiku wa kotozute mo semu kaerusa no karigane wa mazu waga yado ni nake - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

恋しくは言伝もせむ帰るさの
雁がねはまづ我が宿に鳴け

Roma-ji: Koishiku wa kotozute mo semu kaerusa no karigane wa mazu waga yado ni nake
English Translation: When you miss me, I
will send word along to you—
wild geese heading home,
before all else come and cry
here at my own lodging
Meaning: When I miss you, I will send you word—so, wild geese on your way back north, come first of all and cry at my house.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Parting Poems 1318

Headnote: "Around the Third Month, at a time when wine was served to someone going to the province of Koshi."
The poet says that when longing comes there will be messages, and asks the homeward geese to cry first at her house. Overlaying the traveler bound for Koshi in the north in the Third Month with the geese flying north at the same season, she asks the geese, as bearers of letters, to stop first at her home.
According to the headnote, it was composed around the Third Month when wine was served to someone going to Koshi. It draws on the old tale of a wild goose carrying a letter.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known.

The first line, "Koishiku wa," means "if you should miss me."
The second line, "kotozute mo semu," means "I will send word," with "mu" intention. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "kaerusa no," means "on their way home," the geese returning north in spring, overlapping the traveler's road to Koshi.
The fourth line, "karigane wa mazu," means "you geese, first of all," seeing the geese as messengers.
The last line, "waga yado ni nake," means "cry at my lodging," ending in the imperative.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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