Au koto no naki o Ukita no mori ni sumu yobukodori koso waga mi narikere - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことのなきをうきたの森に住む
呼子鳥こそ我が身なりけれ

Roma-ji: Au koto no naki o Ukita no mori ni sumu yobukodori koso waga mi narikere
English Translation: Sad that we can never
meet, in the forest of Ukita
the bird that dwells there,
the calling bird, it is that
which is my very self
Meaning: The calling bird that lives in the forest of Ukita, grieving that it can never meet its love, is none other than myself.
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 713

The calling bird that lives in the forest of Ukita, grieving that there is no meeting and crying as though calling someone, is the poet's very self. The poet overlays the self who keeps calling to a beloved who cannot be met with the calling bird.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant it is placed after 665 in Book Ten, the closing poem of the anthology. From this poem to 717, the last in this book, love poems stand together.

First line, 'au koto no', means of meeting.
Second line, 'naki o Ukita no', joins uki, sorrowful that there is none, with the forest of Ukita, a famous place.
Third line, 'mori ni sumu', means dwelling in the forest, modifying yobukodori in the fourth line.
Fourth line, 'yobukodori koso', means the calling bird indeed, the particle koso reaching to the final line. It is overlaid with the poet calling to one who cannot be met.
Final line, 'waga mi narikere', means is my very self, the particle koso answered by kere, the realis of the exclamatory keri.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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