Hototogisu nagori arasete kaerishi ga kikisutsuru ni mo narinikeru kana

ほととぎす名残あらせて帰りしが
聞き捨つるにもなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Hototogisu nagori arasete kaerishi ga kikisutsuru ni mo narinikeru kana
English Translation: Ah, the cuckoo's song:
I went home to leave behind
a longing for it,
but this, I see, has turned out
to be hearing and leaving it.
Meaning: I came away early to keep a longing for the cuckoo's song alive, but that, it seems, has turned into hearing it and casting it aside.
Commentary: Summer Poems 200

Headnote: "In reply to someone who wrote to me that, having gone to a mountain village at the end of the Fifth Month and come straight back, I had heard the cuckoo coldly and left it behind"
The headnote tells us this poem was written in reply to someone who wrote that the poet, having gone to a mountain village at the end of the Fifth Month and returned at once, had coldly heard the cuckoo and left it behind. He answers that he came back early precisely to leave a lingering longing, yet this has been taken as casting the song aside.
Taking his correspondent's phrase, heard and left it, into the lower verse, the poet gives a light apology that turns on the gap between his heart, which wished to keep a longing, and his conduct, which looked cold.

First line, “hototogisu”: the cuckoo heard in the mountain village.
Second line, “nagori arasete”: letting a lingering feeling remain, so as to keep the wish to hear more.
Third line, “kaerishi ga”: shi is the attributive of the past ki and ga is concessive, though I went home.
Fourth line, “kikisutsuru ni mo”: picks up the correspondent's words in the headnote, to hear and leave as it is.
Fifth line, “narinikeru kana”: nikeru combines perfective and past, closing with the exclamatory kana on how it has turned out.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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