Tachibana no kage fumu michi no yachimata ni mono o zo omou imo ni awazu shite

橘の蔭踏む道の八衢に
物をぞ思ふ妹に逢はずして

Roma-ji: Tachibana no kage fumu michi no yachimata ni mono o zo omou imo ni awazu shite
English Translation: Like the crossroads where
the road that treads the shadows
of the orange trees
branches out, my thoughts run wild,
for I cannot see my wife.
Meaning: Like a crossroads where the path through the shade of the orange trees branches every way, my thoughts are scattered and confused, for I cannot meet my wife.
Commentary: Book Two Love Poems 125

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems composed when the novice Mikata, not long after marrying the daughter of Sono no Omi Ikuha, fell ill and took to his bed"
He overlays his scattered, anxious thoughts on a crossroads where the path through the shade of the orange trees branches in many directions, and closes with the grief of being unable to see his wife.
According to the headnote, these are three poems from the time when the novice Mikata fell ill soon after marrying the daughter of Sono no Omi Ikuha, and small notes, "Novice Mikata" or "the maiden," appended to each poem identify the speaker. The sequence is an exchange: the husband's question, the wife's answer, and the husband's lament. This is the third; the note "Novice Mikata" at its end has been removed from the text of the poem.
The author, the novice Mikata, is otherwise unknown. Shami was the title of a newly ordained monk, and one theory identifies him with Yamada no Mikata, who later returned to lay life.

The first line, "tachibana no," names the evergreen orange tree, said to have lined the avenues of the capital.
The second line, "kage fumu michi no," means "of the road that treads the shade."
The preface runs through the third line, "yachimata ni," and from a place where roads branch many ways leads to a mind torn in many directions.
In the fourth line, "mono o zo omou," zo is a binding particle concluding in the attributive omou. The poem pauses here.
The final line, "imo ni awazu shite," means "without seeing my wife," and by inversion gives the cause of his grief at the end.
Author: Novice Mikata
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Hito mina wa ima wa nagashi to take to iedo kimi ga mishi kami midaretari tomo
Next Poem: Miyabio to ware wa kikeru o yado kasazu ware o kaeseri oso no miyabio