Hototogisu omoi mo wakanu hitokoe o kikitsu to ikaga hito ni kataran

郭公思ひも分かぬ一声を
聞きつといかが人に語らん

Roma-ji: Hototogisu omoi mo wakanu hitokoe o kikitsu to ikaga hito ni kataran
English Translation: Cuckoo, that one call,
so faint I could not be sure
whether I had heard,
how could I tell anyone
I have heard your voice at last?
Meaning: How could I tell anyone that I heard the cuckoo, when its single call was so faint I cannot even be sure I heard it?
Commentary: Summer Poems 193

Headnote: "On the cuckoo"
This poem was composed on the topic of the cuckoo. The poet heard a single call, but it was so faint that he cannot say for certain he heard it. How then can he tell people that he has heard the cuckoo? The wish to tell of hearing its song mingles with frustration at not being sure.
In 179 of this book the poet lamented that he could not tell of the first song because of his vow of silence; here he laments that he cannot tell of it because the voice was so faint, treating the same theme of telling others of the cuckoo from a different circumstance.

First line, “hototogisu”: the bird that let fall a single call.
Second line, “omoi mo wakanu”: unable even to judge whether it was heard.
Third line, “hitokoe o”: a single call, heard only once.
Fourth line, “kikitsu to ikaga”: tsu is perfective, that I heard it; ikaga introduces a rhetorical question leading to the last line.
Fifth line, “hito ni kataran”: answering ikaga, it forms the rhetorical question how could I tell others, meaning I cannot.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Hototogisu sono nochi koen yamaji ni mo katarau koe wa kawarazaranan
Next Poem: Hototogisu ikabakari naru chigiri nite kokoro tsukusade hito no kikuran