Ikaga to wa ware koso omoe asanasana naki kikasetsuru tori o koroseba - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

いかゝとは我こそ思へ朝な〳〵
なきゝかせつる鳥を殺せは

Roma-ji: Ikaga to wa ware koso omoe asanasana naki kikasetsuru tori o koroseba
English Translation: "Why?"—it is I, rather,
who must ask it, now that you've slain
the bird that each and every
morning sang to let us know
that it was time to part
Meaning: It is I who should ask what you were thinking, killing the bird that sang to us morning after morning.
Commentary: 13 The Cock's Crow

Using the closed direction as a pretext, the prince came by carriage to fetch Izumi Shikibu and they talked in the same secluded place as the night before. At dawn, saying how cruel the cock's crow was, he quietly put her in the carriage and saw her home. On the way he said, "On such occasions, always, always," and she replied, "How could it be every time?" He saw her home and then returned.
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.
When the prince's letter declaring that he had killed the cock arrived with "Koroshite mo nao akanu kana nenu tori no orifushi shiranu kesa no hatsukoe" written on its feather, Izumi Shikibu sent back this poem.
After the poem she added, "So I think; but surely the bird was not to blame?" Two or three days later, on a night of brilliant moonlight, another poem came from the prince.

The opening lines mean "it is I, rather, who wonder what this is," sealed by an emphatic construction, feigning astonishment at his deed.
The remaining lines mean "since you have killed the bird that sang to us every morning," with a perfective auxiliary and a conditional of fact. Taking up his "bird" and "kill," she answers jest with jest: the bird that tells lovers of the dawn is innocent. Her added remark that the bird was not to blame also seems to hint that the pain of parting lies not with the bird but with their circumstances, which keep them from meeting freely.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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