Waga sakari mata ochime ya mo hotohoto ni Nara no miyako o mizu ka narinamu

我が盛りまたをちめやもほとほとに
奈良の都を見ずかなりなむ

Roma-ji: Waga sakari mata ochime ya mo hotohoto ni Nara no miyako o mizu ka narinamu
English Translation: The prime of my days—
will it ever come again?
Nearly, it may be,
the capital of Nara
I shall never see once more.
Meaning: Will my prime ever return to me? I fear I may very nearly end my days without ever seeing the capital of Nara again.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 331

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo"
This is the first of the five poems of the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. His prime will never return, and he fears he may die without seeing the Nara capital again—lamenting old age in far-off Tsukushi and voicing his longing for the capital. It is placed as though answering Ōtomo no Yotsuna's question in the preceding poem.
The five poems of the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo form a sequence longing for the Nara capital and for his home, placed after the poems of Ono no Oyu and Ōtomo no Yotsuna.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro. He served as Middle Counselor and Governor-General of Dazaifu before rising to Great Counselor, and died in Tenpyō 3 (731). Steeped in Chinese letters, he was at the center of a poetic circle with Yamanoue no Okura and others while serving in Tsukushi.

First line "The prime of my days" means the flower of his life.
Second line "will it ever come again": otsu means to grow young again, me is the conditional of mu, and ya mo rhetorical—"never." The sentence breaks here.
Third line "Nearly, it may be": hotohoto ni is an adverb meaning "almost."
Fourth line "the capital of Nara" takes up the same words from the preceding poem.
Fifth line "I shall never see once more": ka is interrogative, na perfective, mu conjectural, ending in the lament of age.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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