Nakan koe ya chirinuru hana no nagori naru yagate mataruru hototogisu kana

鳴かん声や散りぬる花の名残なる
やがて待たるる郭公かな

Roma-ji: Nakan koe ya chirinuru hana no nagori naru yagate mataruru hototogisu kana
English Translation: Is the voice that soon
will sing out the lingering trace
of blossoms now fallen?
At once we find ourselves waiting,
O cuckoo, for your call.
Meaning: Is the voice soon to sing the lingering trace of the blossoms that have fallen? At once we find ourselves waiting for the cuckoo.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1463

Headnote: "Ten Poems on the Cuckoo"
The first of the ten poems on the cuckoo. The cuckoo's call is awaited as soon as the blossoms fall—perhaps because that voice is what remains of the fallen blossoms.
The shift of seasonal interest from spring blossoms to the summer cuckoo is bound together as a lingering trace of the blossoms. Taking up the preceding poem that closed the blossom set, it places the trace of the blossoms at the start of the cuckoo set, joining the two topics in one sequence.

First line, “nakan koe ya”: n is conjecture and ya a binding particle, "the voice that will sing"; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “chirinuru hana no”: of the blossoms that have fallen, taking up the blossom set.
Third line, “nagori naru”: the attributive ending answering ya in the first line, "is it the lingering trace?"
Fourth line, “yagate mataruru”: yagate means at once, and ruru is spontaneous, "we cannot help waiting at once."
Fifth line, “hototogisu kana”: kana marks exclamation, "O cuckoo."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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