Uguisu no koe nakariseba yuki kienu yamazato ikade haru o shiramashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鶯の声なかりせば雪消えぬ
山里いかで春を知らまし

Roma-ji: Uguisu no koe nakariseba yuki kienu yamazato ikade haru o shiramashi
English Translation: If it were not for
the warbler's voice, how could they,
where snow does not melt
in the village in the hills,
ever come to know of spring?
Meaning: Were it not for the warbler's song, how would a mountain village where the snow lies unmelted ever know that spring had come?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 10

Headnote: "For the poetry contest at the palace on the twenty-ninth day of the third month, tenth year of Tenryaku"
In a mountain village where the snow has not yet melted, only the warbler's song announces the arrival of spring. Imagining life in such a village, where spring cannot be seen in the landscape, the poem stresses the value of the warbler's voice through a counterfactual. According to the headnote, it was submitted to the poetry contest held at the palace on the twenty-ninth day of the third month in the tenth year of Tenryaku.
The author, styled Middle Counselor Asatada, is Fujiwara no Asatada. A son of Fujiwara no Sadakata, the Sanjō Minister of the Right, he rose to Middle Counselor and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "uguisu no," picks up from the preceding run of snow poems and shifts to the warbler that heralds spring.
Second line, "koe nakariseba," uses "seba" for a counterfactual condition, answered by "mashi" in the final line.
Third line, "yuki kienu," means the snow has not yet melted, echoing poems 7 and 8 of this book, which describe snow lingering after spring's arrival.
Fourth line, "yamazato ikade," with "ikade" as a rhetorical question, leads to "how could they know? They could not."
Final line, "haru o shiramashi," closes with the counterfactual "mashi," showing that the warbler's song is the very sign of spring for the mountain village.
Author: Fujiwara no Asatada
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Waga yado no ume ni naraite miyoshino no yama no yuki o mo hana to koso mire
Next Poem: Uchikirashi yuki wa furitsutsu shikasuga ni waga ie no sono ni uguisu zo naku