Omoiyaru kokoro mo tsukinu hototogisu kumo no ikue no hoka ni nakuran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひやる心も尽きぬ時鳥
雲の幾重のほかに鳴くらん

Roma-ji: Omoiyaru kokoro mo tsukinu hototogisu kumo no ikue no hoka ni nakuran
English Translation: Even my heart
that reaches out has given out:
O cuckoo,
are you singing far beyond
how many folds of cloud?
Meaning: Even my heart that reaches out to it has given out; is the cuckoo singing beyond how many layers of cloud?
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 156

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Hearing the Cuckoo from Afar'"
Composed on the topic "Hearing the Cuckoo from Afar." The cuckoo's voice reaches the poet faintly from far away, and when he tries to send his thoughts to where it sings, the place lies beyond their reach; it must be singing, he supposes, beyond many layers of cloud. Expressing the voice's remoteness as a distance at which the reaching heart gives out, the poem conveys the vastness of the sky.
The author, "Provisional Major Counselor Saneie," is Fujiwara no Saneie, son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, who rose to Provisional Major Counselor. His elder brother was Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Sanesada.

First line, "omoiyaru": "sending one's thoughts afar."
Second line, "kokoro mo tsukinu": "nu" is perfective: "even my heart that reaches out has given out." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "hototogisu": the subject of the lines that follow.
Fourth line, "kumo no ikue no": "of how many layers of cloud."
Fifth line, "hoka ni nakuran": "hoka" means beyond, and "ran" is present conjecture: "it must be singing beyond them." The next poem, 157, and the one after, 158, depict the cuckoo singing deep within clouds.
Author: Fujiwara no Saneie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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