Omoi nomi fukaki miyama no hototogisu hito koso shirane ne o nomi zo naku

思ひのみ深きみ山の郭公
人こそ知らね音をのみぞ鳴く

Roma-ji: Omoi nomi fukaki miyama no hototogisu hito koso shirane ne o nomi zo naku
English Translation: My longing alone
is deep as the deep mountains
where the cuckoo calls;
though no one knows of it,
I do nothing but weep aloud.
Meaning: Like the cuckoo in the deep mountains, my longing alone runs deep; though no one knows it, I do nothing but weep aloud.
Commentary: Love Poems 408

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
Likening himself to the cuckoo calling deep in the mountains, the poet says that his longing alone runs deep, unknown to the beloved, and he does nothing but weep aloud. The cry of the bird and the poet's own sobbing become one.

Line 1 means "my longing alone," nomi being a limiting particle.
Line 2 joins the depth of longing to the depth of the mountains.
Line 3 names the cuckoo of the deep mountains, leading to "cry" in line 5.
Line 4: the binding particle koso is concluded by the evaluative shirane and turns adversative: "though no one knows." The imagery moves from the falling blossoms of the preceding poem to a summer bird.
Line 5 means "I do nothing but cry aloud"; zo binds the attributive naku, and the bird's call and the poet's weeping overlap.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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