Hototogisu hitokoe nakite akenureba ayanaku yoru no urameshiki kana - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

時鳥一声鳴きて明けぬれば
あやなく夜のうらめしきかな

Roma-ji: Hototogisu hitokoe nakite akenureba ayanaku yoru no urameshiki kana
English Translation: When the cuckoo had
sung a single note for me
the dawn came at once,
and without a reason how
I resent the summer night
Meaning: The cuckoo sang just once and dawn broke, and for no good reason I find myself resenting the night.
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 674

With the cuckoo singing only once before the short summer night gave way to dawn, the poet finds the night resentful for no good reason. The wish to hear more of the bird's song is expressed as resentment at the shortness of the night.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 122 in Book Two. Poems regretting the cuckoo's song stand around it, and 123 in Book Two, which follows, also sings of a cuckoo calling faintly as it passes.

First line, 'hototogisu', means the cuckoo.
Second line, 'hitokoe nakite', means singing a single note, saying that the poet heard it only briefly.
Third line, 'akenureba', means since dawn came, the realis of the perfective nu with ba expressing a reason.
Fourth line, 'ayanaku yoru no', means unreasonably, the night, the adjective ayanashi expressing a feeling that makes no sense.
Final line, 'urameshiki kana', means how I resent it, closing with the exclamatory kana.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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