Wagimoko ni ausaka yama no hototogisu akureba kaeru sora ni naku nari - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我妹子にあふさか山のほととぎす
明くれば帰る空に鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ni ausaka yama no hototogisu akureba kaeru sora ni naku nari
English Translation: Meeting my beloved
on the hill of Ausaka,
the little cuckoo,
when dawn comes, in the sky
of parting, seems to sing
Meaning: The cuckoo of Ausaka, the hill whose name means meeting one's beloved, seems to sing in the sky of dawn as lovers part and go home.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 124

The cuckoo of Mount Ausaka seems to sing in the sky of one returning at dawn from a lover's side. Overlaying the place name Ausaka with the sense of meeting a lover, the poem joins the poignancy of the morning parting to the cuckoo's cry.
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.

First line, 'wagimoko ni', means to my beloved, leading to au in the second line.
Second line, 'ausaka yama no', is a pivot word combining Mount Ausaka, on the border of Ōmi and Yamashiro, with au, to meet one's lover.
Third line, 'hototogisu', is set as the bird singing on Ausaka.
Fourth line, 'akureba kaeru', means returning when dawn comes, evoking the morning parting of lovers after a night together.
Final line, 'sora ni naku nari', uses the auditory inferential nari: it seems to be singing in the sky of the homeward way.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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