Naraekeru kokoro wa ware ka hototogisu kimi machietaru yoi no makura ni

習へける心は我か時鳥
君待ち得たる宵の枕に

Roma-ji: Naraekeru kokoro wa ware ka hototogisu kimi machietaru yoi no makura ni
English Translation: Did you learn from me
this heart that waits, I wonder,
O you cuckoo bird—
singing by my pillow on
the night I've welcomed you at last?
Meaning: Did you learn your waiting heart from me, cuckoo, singing by my pillow on the very evening I have at last welcomed you?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1449

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Did you learn the waiting heart from me, cuckoo, singing by my pillow on the evening I have at last welcomed my love? the poet asks.
The cuckoo's first song was something people awaited eagerly. As though the cuckoo had learned his heart of waiting for a lover, he delights that it sang just on the evening the awaited one came. There are hard-to-construe parts, read here as above.

First line, “naraekeru”: that learned.
Second line, “kokoro wa ware ka”: that heart, from me?
Third line, “hototogisu”: an address to the cuckoo; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “kimi machietaru”: having at last welcomed you.
Fifth line, “yoi no makura ni”: by my evening pillow, the inversion giving where it sang.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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