Sasanami no shiga no ōwada yodomu tomo mukashi no hito ni mata mo awame ya mo

楽浪の志賀の大わだ淀むとも
昔の人にまたも逢はめやも

Roma-ji: Sasanami no shiga no ōwada yodomu tomo mukashi no hito ni mata mo awame ya mo
English Translation: At Sasanami,
though the great bay of Shiga
should lie still and wait,
the people of days gone by—
shall I ever meet again?
Meaning: At Sasanami, even though the waters of Shiga's great bay lie still as if waiting, shall I ever meet the people of the old days again? Never.
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 31

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro when he passed the ruined capital of Ōmi — envoy"
An envoy grieving that, even if the waters of Shiga's great bay lie still and unflowing, one can never again meet the people of the old capital. The stillness of the water merges with longing for those who will never return, and together with the preceding poem it deepens the mood of requiem for the ruined capital. The text notes variants in which the second line reads "of Hira" and the last line "could I think to meet them?"
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, and he is the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū. Though his rank appears to have been low, he left many grand and dignified poems, above all long poems, and later ages revered him as a "saint of poetry."

The first line again names the southwestern shore of Lake Biwa; sharing its opening with the preceding poem, it shows the continuity of the two envoys.
In the second line, ōwada is a broad, curving inlet, here the bay on the Shiga shore. The variant reads "the great bay of Hira."
In the third line, tomo is a concessive supposition: "even though it lies still." The unmoving water is overlaid with a heart that lingers, waiting for people.
The fourth line, "the people of old," refers to those who once lived in the Ōmi capital. Taking up the preceding poem's "courtiers," it calls the lost ones forth once more.
In the last line, me is the perfective form of the conjectural mu, and ya mo is rhetorical: "shall I meet them again? Never." Like the preceding poem's "it can wait no longer for the boats," it closes in grief at never meeting the lost again. The variant "could I think to meet them?" is likewise rhetorical. The line is hypermetric.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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