Sayo fukete nezamezariseba hototogisu hitozute ni koso kikubekarikere - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さ夜更けて寝覚めざりせば郭公
人づてにこそ聞くべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Sayo fukete nezamezariseba hototogisu hitozute ni koso kikubekarikere
English Translation: Had I not awoken
when the night had grown so late,
the cuckoo's call
would have come to me only
as hearsay from others' lips.
Meaning: Had I not woken late in the night, I would have heard of the cuckoo's song only secondhand from others.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 104

Headnote: "For the poetry contest in the reign of Tenryaku"
Thanks to waking by chance late at night, the poet heard the cuckoo with his own ears, and reflects that otherwise he would have heard of it only secondhand. The joy of meeting the song through a chance awakening is expressed in the form of a contrary-to-fact supposition. According to the headnote, it was submitted to a poetry contest held in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami.
Mibu no Tadami was a poet of the mid-Heian period and the son of Mibu no Tadamine. He is known for the poem with which he competed against Taira no Kanemori at the palace poetry contest of the fourth year of Tentoku, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "sayo fukete," means "as the night grew late," with "sa" as a prefix.
Second line, "nezamezariseba," means "had I not woken," with "seba" marking a contrary-to-fact condition. It shares the construction of "yadorazariseba" in 99 of this book, and both sing of a stroke of good fortune.
Third line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo singing late at night.
Fourth line, "hitozute ni koso," means "only by hearsay," with the emphatic particle "koso," which is resolved by "kere" in the final line. Contrary to 98 of this book, which wished to be told by others, this poem rejoices at having heard the song in person rather than secondhand.
Final line, "kikubekarikere," means "I would have had to hear," closing the construction begun by "koso" with the realis form "kere."
Author: Mibu no Tadami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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