Koe tatete naku to iu tomo hototogisu tamoto wa nureji sorane narikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

声立ててなくといふとも郭公
袂は濡れじそらねなりけり

Roma-ji: Koe tatete naku to iu tomo hototogisu tamoto wa nureji sorane narikeri
English Translation: Though you raise your voice
and claim that you are weeping,
O cuckoo, I think
your sleeves will not be wet,
for your cry is but a sham.
Meaning: Though you raise your voice and claim to weep, O cuckoo, your sleeves will not be wet, for your cry is false, as false as these roots of thread.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1074

Headnote: "When a certain man sent a woman a medicine ball with white threads made to look like iris roots, along with many tender words"
The poet says that though the cuckoo may claim to cry aloud, its sleeves will not be wet, for its cry is false, a sham root. The headnote shows that a certain man sent a woman a medicine ball with white threads made to look like iris roots, along with many tender words, and this was her reply. Likening the man to a cuckoo crying aloud, and pivoting on "sorane," a "false cry" and a "sham root" of threads made to look like iris, she lightly dismisses his words as false tears. Taking up the "naku" of the preceding poem, 1073, it sings of a false "naku."

First line, "koe tatete," means "raising its voice."
Second line, "naku to iu tomo," means "though it says it weeps," with "naku" a pivot word on a bird "singing" and a person "weeping," and "tomo" expressing a concessive supposition. It uses the same pivot as the final line of the preceding poem, 1073, "ne o nomi zo naku."
Third line, "hototogisu," calls out "O cuckoo," standing for the man. It pairs the medicine ball of the Boys' Festival with the cuckoo that sings in the fifth month.
Fourth line, "tamoto wa nureji," means "your sleeves will not be wet," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture. The poem breaks after this fourth line.
Final line, "sorane narikeri," means "it is a false cry," with "sorane" a pivot word on a "false cry" and a "sham root" of the iris made of thread.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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