Haya kite mo mitemashi mono o Yamashiro no Taka no tsukimura chirinikeru kamo

早来ても見てましものを山背の
高の槻群散りにけるかも

Roma-ji: Haya kite mo mitemashi mono o Yamashiro no Taka no tsukimura chirinikeru kamo
English Translation: Had I come sooner,
I might have seen them in time—
in Yamashiro
the zelkova grove of Taka
has already shed its leaves.
Meaning: If only I had come sooner and seen them—the zelkova grove at Taka in Yamashiro has already scattered its leaves.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 277

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eight travel poems by Takechi no Muraji Kurohito"
This is the last of Kurohito's eight travel poems, closing the sequence. Visiting the zelkova grove at Taka in Yamashiro only to find its leaves already fallen, he regrets not having come sooner. His lingering regret for a beauty missed casts a desolate air fitting for the end of a journey. Taka is thought to be near Taga in present-day Ide, Kyoto.
Kurohito's eight travel poems gather pieces composed on journeys through Settsu, Owari, Ōmi, Mikawa, Yamashiro, and other provinces.
The poet, Takechi no Kurohito, was active from the reign of Jitō to that of Monmu. Excelling in travel poems, he opened a distinctive vein of landscape poetry marked by a solitary gaze upon receding things. Little is known of his life.

First line "Had I come sooner" means "even if I had hurried here."
Second line "I might have seen them in time": mashi is the counterfactual auxiliary—"I should have seen them." The sentence breaks here.
Third line "in Yamashiro" names the province of Yamashiro.
Fourth line "the zelkova grove of Taka": tsuki is the old name for zelkova, and tsukimura a stand of them.
Fifth line "has already shed its leaves": kamo is exclamatory, closing the sequence with regret for a scene already lost.
Author: Takechi no Kurohito
Source: Manyoshu
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