Tachikaeri aware to zo omou yoso ni te mo hito ni kokoro o okitsu shiranami - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

立ち帰りあはれとぞ思ふよそにても
人に心をおきつ白波

Roma-ji: Tachikaeri aware to zo omou yoso ni te mo hito ni kokoro o okitsu shiranami
English Translation: Again and again
I think of you with tender love
though we stand apart
for I have set my heart with you
like white waves from the offing
Meaning: Like white waves from the offing that come and go, again and again I think of you with tender longing; though we are far apart, I have left my heart with you.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 474

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
This poem entrusts to the white waves that surge in from the offing and draw back a love whose heart has been left with the beloved, even while the two remain apart. The feeling of cherishing the beloved again and again is expressed through the repeated motion of the waves. By ending on a noun, the poem leaves the lingering image of white waves breaking toward the one who holds the poet's heart.
The poet, Ariwara no Motokata, was a grandson of Ariwara no Narihira and the son of Ariwara no Muneyana, Governor of Chikuzen. He was later adopted by Fujiwara no Kunitsune. He is known as the author of the opening poem of the Kokinshu, "Spring has come within the year."

First line, "Again and again": tachikaeri means repeatedly, and it is also a word associated with waves that come and go.
Second line, "I think of you with tender love": aware is a feeling of deep tenderness. The particle zo forms a kakari-musubi with omou, and the poem pauses here after the second line.
Third line, "though we stand apart": yoso nite mo means even from far away, or even as people unconnected.
Fourth line, "for I have set my heart with you": hito ni kokoro o, my heart with you, leads into oki in the last line. Following the preceding poem, 473, the love kept at a distance continues.
Fifth line, "like white waves from the offing": oki is a pivot word meaning both "set" the heart and "the offing" at sea, and tsu serves both as the perfective auxiliary and as the old genitive in okitsu. The noun ending entrusts the lingering feeling to the image of white waves.
Author: Ariwara no Motokata
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Otowayama oto ni kikitsutsu Ōsaka no seki no konata ni toshi o furu kana
Next Poem: Yo no naka wa kaku koso arikere fuku kaze no me ni minu hito mo koishikarikeri