Sakashimi to mono iu yori wa sake nomite einaki suru shi masaritarurashi

賢しみと物言ふよりは酒飲みて
酔ひ泣きするしまさりたるらし

Roma-ji: Sakashimi to mono iu yori wa sake nomite einaki suru shi masaritarurashi
English Translation: Rather than speaking
in a wise and clever way,
to drink down the wine
and weep in drunken tears, it seems,
is surely far the better.
Meaning: Rather than talking as if one were wise, it seems far better to drink sake and weep drunken tears.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 341

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Lord Ōtomo"
This is the fourth of the thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. Better to drink and weep in one's cups, he says, than to hold forth cleverly, rejecting the world's affected wisdom. Here appears Tabito's view that the frank outpouring of unguarded feeling is worth more than surface cleverness.
The thirteen poems in praise of sake form a sequence in which Tabito, at Dazaifu, extols wine as a way of rejecting worldly cleverness and consoling life's sorrows, drawing on Chinese precedents such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
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 "in a wise and clever way": sakashimi, from sakashi with mi, means "thinking oneself wise."
Second line "Rather than speaking" means rather than holding forth.
Third line "to drink down the wine" means drinking sake.
Fourth line "and weep in drunken tears": shi is emphatic. "Drunken weeping" recurs in the tenth and thirteenth poems, running through the sequence.
Fifth line "is surely far the better" ends with the inference of rashi.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Inishie no nana no sakashiki hitotachi mo horiseshi mono wa sake ni shi arurashi
Next Poem: Iwamu sube semu sube shirazu kiwamarite tōtoki mono wa sake ni shi arurashi