Kanokata ni haya kogiyoseyo hototogisu michi ni nakitsu to hito ni kataran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かの方にはや漕ぎ寄せよ郭公
道に鳴きつと人に語らん

Roma-ji: Kanokata ni haya kogiyoseyo hototogisu michi ni nakitsu to hito ni kataran
English Translation: Toward that far shore,
row us quickly, ferryman!
That the cuckoo
sang to me along the way,
I shall tell to everyone.
Meaning: Row us quickly to the other shore! I will tell people that the cuckoo sang along the way.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 115

Headnote: "For a folding screen at the house of the Ono-no-miya Minister, where there was a picture of a cuckoo singing at a river crossing"
Hearing the cuckoo sing aboard a ferry, the poet urges the boat on to the far shore so that he can tell people the cuckoo sang along the way. The joy of hearing the cuckoo is carried by the eagerness to share it with others quickly. According to the headnote, it accompanied a scene of a cuckoo singing at a river crossing on a folding screen at the house of Fujiwara no Saneyori.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kanokata ni," means "toward that side," pointing to the far shore.
Second line, "haya kogiyoseyo," means "row us quickly to shore," an imperative calling to the boatman. The poem pauses here.
Third line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo that sang at the crossing. Following 113 of this book, it pairs a river crossing with the cuckoo.
Fourth line, "michi ni nakitsu to," means "that it sang along the way," with "tsu" as a perfective auxiliary.
Final line, "hito ni kataran," means "I shall tell people," with "n" as an auxiliary of intention. Whereas 97 of this book lamented having nothing to tell at home if the cuckoo did not sing, this poem hurries to tell that it did, so the two poems contrast.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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