Toshi o hete miyamagakure no hototogisu kiku hito mo naki ne o nomi zo naku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年を経てみ山隠れの郭公
聞く人もなき音をのみぞなく

Roma-ji: Toshi o hete miyamagakure no hototogisu kiku hito mo naki ne o nomi zo naku
English Translation: Year after long year,
hidden deep within the hills,
the cuckoo, alone,
with a voice that no one hears,
does nothing but cry aloud.
Meaning: Hidden for years deep in the mountains, the cuckoo does nothing but cry aloud with a voice no one hears, and so do I.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1073

Headnote: "On hearing the cuckoo after going down to the province of Michinoku"
The poet says that the cuckoo, hidden for years deep in the mountains, does nothing but sing with a voice no one hears. The headnote shows it was composed on hearing a cuckoo after he had gone down to the province of Michinoku. In the remote north far from the capital, he lays over the cuckoo singing unheard his own self lamenting far from the capital, and pivoting on "naku," a bird's "singing" and a person's "weeping," he voices his longing for home.
The author, written as "Lord Sanekata," is Fujiwara no Sanekata. A son of Fujiwara no Sadatoki, he was adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Naritoki. From Middle Captain of the Left Inner Palace Guards he became Governor of Michinoku, went down to his post and died there. He is one of the Thirty-Six Later Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "kaku to dani" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "toshi o hete," means "for years on end."
Second line, "miyamagakure no," means "hidden deep in the mountains," sharing the same line with the fourth line of 1065 in this book, "miyamagakure no," where it is the bush warbler, here the cuckoo.
Third line, "hototogisu," means "the cuckoo," laying over it the poet himself in Michinoku.
Fourth line, "kiku hito mo naki," means "that no one hears."
Final line, "ne o nomi zo naku," means "it only cries aloud," with "naku" a pivot word on a bird "singing" and a person "weeping." The binding particle "zo" is resolved by the attributive "naku."
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Shui Wakashu
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