Kiku tabi ni mezurashikereba hototogisu itsumo hatsune no kokochi koso sure - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

聞くたびにめづらしければほととぎす
いつも初音の心地こそすれ

Roma-ji: Kiku tabi ni mezurashikereba hototogisu itsumo hatsune no kokochi koso sure
English Translation: Each time that I hear
it is fresh and wonderful,
O little cuckoo,
so that always it feels as if
I hear your first song of the year
Meaning: Because it delights me anew each time I hear it, the cuckoo's song always feels like the first song of the year.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 113

Because the cuckoo's song feels fresh every time, it always seems like the first song of the year. The poet's love of the bird is expressed simply as a freshness that never wears off, however often he hears it.
Tradition says that this poem earned its author, Eien, the name Archbishop of the First Song, and it is the poem most closely associated with him.
From poem 104 through poem 126 in this book, poems on the cuckoo follow one another, expressing every mood around the bird: waiting for its first song, seeking it out, rejoicing at hearing it and lamenting having missed it.
The author, Eien, was a son of Fujiwara no Nagasuke and a monk of Kōfukuji. He rose to Provisional Archbishop.

First line, 'kiku tabi ni', means each time I hear it, showing freshness with every hearing. Where 'every year' in poem 109 measures by the years, this poem expresses the same feeling hearing by hearing.
Second line, 'mezurashikereba', uses mezurashi, fresh and delightful, with ba after the realis form to give a definite reason. It is the same word as in 'mezurashiki kana' in poem 95.
Third line, 'hototogisu', names the bird of the theme.
Fourth line, 'itsumo hatsune no', means always like the first song of the year, in contrast to poem 105, which laments never hearing the first song.
Final line, 'kokochi koso sure', is a binding in which koso closes on the realis sure, emphasizing that this is how it feels.
Author: Yoen
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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