Tazunureba kikigataki ka to hototogisu koyoi bakari wa machi kokoromin

尋ぬれば聞きがたきかと郭公
今宵ばかりは待ちこころみん

Roma-ji: Tazunureba kikigataki ka to hototogisu koyoi bakari wa machi kokoromin
English Translation: When I go to seek,
might it be hard to hear it?
So, O cuckoo, then,
for this one night at least, I'll
stay and try just waiting here.
Meaning: Perhaps the cuckoo is hard to hear when I go looking for it; so, for tonight at least, I will try simply waiting for it.
Commentary: Summer Poems 183

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The cuckoo"
Like the preceding poem, this one is on the topic of the cuckoo. The poet has gone searching for the cuckoo and has not heard it. Perhaps it is hard to hear precisely because one goes looking, he thinks, and so for tonight at least he will try simply waiting.
Where the preceding poem said he should have planted a tachibana before waiting, this one gives up searching in favour of waiting, so the poems continue to turn over ways of waiting for the cuckoo.

First line, “tazunureba”: the perfective form with ba, when I go in search of it.
Second line, “kikigataki ka to”: wondering whether it is harder to hear that way.
Third line, “hototogisu”: the object of the waiting in the lines that follow.
Fourth line, “koyoi bakari wa”: bakari limits it to tonight alone.
Fifth line, “machi kokoromin”: to try waiting, with n expressing intention.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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