Hototogisu matsu kokoro nomi tsukusasete koe o ba oshimu satsuki narikeri

郭公待つ心のみ尽くさせて
声をば惜しむ五月なりけり

Roma-ji: Hototogisu matsu kokoro nomi tsukusasete koe o ba oshimu satsuki narikeri
English Translation: O you cuckoo,
making me spend all my heart
only on waiting,
yet so sparing of your voice,
this, then, is the Fifth Month.
Meaning: The cuckoo makes me wear out my heart with waiting, yet grudges me its song; such, I find, is the Fifth Month.
Commentary: Summer Poems 184

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The cuckoo"
This is the third poem on the topic of the cuckoo. The cuckoo makes people exhaust their hearts with waiting, yet is sparing with its voice and seldom sings; such, the poet finds, is the Fifth Month. The toil of the one who waits is set against the bird that withholds its song.
After deciding in the preceding poem to try waiting for one night, the poet here resents the cuckoo that does not sing even when awaited, and the pain of waiting deepens.

First line, “hototogisu”: presented as the subject of what follows.
Second line, “matsu kokoro nomi”: nomi limits it, only the heart that waits.
Third line, “tsukusasete”: making one spend one's heart, that is, wearing one out with anxiety; sase is causative, so the cuckoo is the one who does this.
Fourth line, “koe o ba oshimu”: grudging its voice and not singing; o ba is an emphatic form of o. Making others spend their hearts while sparing its own voice forms a contrast between the third and fourth lines.
Fifth line, “satsuki narikeri”: the poem closes with the realization that this is what the Fifth Month is like.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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