Yukiyarade yamaji kurashitsu hototogisu ima hitokoe no kikamahoshisa ni - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

行きやらで山路暮らしつほととぎす
今一声の聞かまほしさに

Roma-ji: Yukiyarade yamaji kurashitsu hototogisu ima hitokoe no kikamahoshisa ni
English Translation: Unable to go on,
I passed the day on the mountain path,
cuckoo,
in my longing just to hear
one more song of yours again.
Meaning: Unable to go on, I have spent the whole day on the mountain path, all for wanting to hear the cuckoo sing just one more time.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 106

Headnote: "For a folding screen for the coming-of-age ceremony of the Northern Princess"
The poet could not move on along the mountain path and spent the whole day there, all for wishing to hear the cuckoo sing once more. The poem shows how the cuckoo's song so captivates him that he halts his journey. According to the headnote, it accompanied a folding screen for the coming-of-age ceremony of the princess known as the Northern Princess.
The author, written as Minamoto no Kintada Ason, was a mid-Heian official and poet and a grandson of Emperor Kōkō. He served Emperor Daigo as head chamberlain among other posts and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "yukiyarade," means "unable to go on," with the negative conjunctive particle "de."
Second line, "yamaji kurashitsu," means "I spent the day on the mountain path," with "tsu" as a perfective auxiliary. The poem pauses here, in inverted order with the second half.
Third line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo singing on the mountain path. As in 97 of this book, it is a scene of hearing the cuckoo while crossing the hills.
Fourth line, "ima hitokoe no," means "one more song." Taking up "futakoe to kiku to wa nashi ni" from the preceding poem, it sings of waiting for the bird to sing again, so the two poems answer each other.
Final line, "kikamahoshisa ni," means "in my wish to hear," the same phrase as the second line of 96 of this book. By inversion it gives after the fact the reason the poet spent the day on the mountain path.
Author: Minamoto no Kintada
Source: Shui Wakashu
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