Hototogisu kikade akenu to tsugegao ni matarenu tori no ne zo kikoyu naru

ほととぎす聞かで明けぬと告げ顔に
待たれぬ鳥の音ぞ聞こゆなる

Roma-ji: Hototogisu kikade akenu to tsugegao ni matarenu tori no ne zo kikoyu naru
English Translation: The cuckoo unheard,
the night has dawned, as if to say,
looking just like that,
a bird no one waited for
sends its crowing to my ears.
Meaning: As if to tell me that dawn has come without my hearing the cuckoo, I hear the crowing of a bird I was not waiting for at all.
Commentary: Summer Poems 186

Headnote: "On the topic of waiting for the cuckoo in vain until dawn"
The headnote shows that the poem was composed on the topic of waiting for the cuckoo in vain until dawn. The poet waited all night but the cuckoo did not sing; instead a cock, which no one was waiting for, crows as if to announce that day has broken. The irony of the awaited bird keeping silent while an unawaited one cries out expresses the disappointment of a night spent in vain.
Built on the contrast between the cuckoo that is awaited and the cock that is not, the poem portrays the frustration of a waiting heart whose hopes are not met. The next poem, on the same topic, also tells of a night that dawned without the cuckoo.

First line, “hototogisu”: the bird the poet has waited for all night.
Second line, “kikade akenu to”: de is a negative conjunctive particle, that the night has ended without my hearing it.
Third line, “tsugegao ni”: with an air of announcing it, personifying the cock.
Fourth line, “matarenu tori no”: a bird no one waits for, the cock that announces dawn; re is the passive auxiliary ru. It stands opposite the awaited cuckoo of the first line.
Fifth line, “ne zo kikoyu naru”: zo is answered by the attributive naru; naru is an auxiliary of inference from sound, closing with I seem to hear its crowing.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Matsu hito no kokoro o shiraba hototogisu tanomoshiku te ya yo o akasamashi
Next Poem: Hototogisu kikade akenuru natsu no yo no Urashima no ko wa makoto narikeri