Shinobine wa kurushiki mono o hototogisu kodakaki koe o kyō yori wa kike - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

忍ひねはくるしきものを郭公
こたかき聲をけふよりはきけ

Roma-ji: Shinobine wa kurushiki mono o hototogisu kodakaki koe o kyō yori wa kike
English Translation: Singing in secret
brings nothing but pain, and so,
like the cuckoo, now
hear from this day the song I sing
high among the treetops
Meaning: Singing in secret is painful indeed; so from today, listen for the cuckoo's song ringing out from the high treetops.
Commentary: 5 The Cuckoo on the Last Day of the Month

Though the prince meant to visit Izumi Shikibu, he held back for fear of being seen and criticized, and the days went by. On the last day of the fourth month, Izumi Shikibu sent him a poem.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
Because the prince was surrounded by attendants, her "Hototogisu yo ni kakuretaru shinobine o itsu ka wa kikan kyō shi suginaba" was delivered the next morning. Reading it, the prince sent back this poem.
True to his words, two or three days later the prince came to her in secret. But Izumi Shikibu was keeping a period of purification before a pilgrimage, and the two spent the night only in talk.

The opening lines mean "singing in secret is painful," taking up her "hidden song" exactly, with a particle of adversative exclamation, and voicing from his side the pain of a love that must be hidden.
Around the cuckoo of the third line, the lower verses mean "from today, hear the song from the high treetops," ending in an imperative. Just as the cuckoo sings out loudly once the fourth month gives way to the fifth, he will from now on visit without hiding; to her "once today has passed," he answers "from today."
Author: Prince Atsumichi
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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