classic waka stream

潮干なば玉藻刈りつめ家の妹が
浜づと乞はば何を示さむ
Roma-ji

Shiohinaba tamamo karitsume ie no imo ga hamazuto kowaba nani o shimesamu

English Translation
When the tide runs out,
gather up the fine seaweed!
If my wife at home
should ask for a seaside gift,
what else could I show to her?
Meaning
When the tide goes out, gather the fine seaweed—if my wife at home asks for a gift from the shore, what else would I have to show her?
Commentary
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 360

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito"
This is the fourth of Yamabe no Akahito's six poems. When the tide goes out, gather the fine seaweed, he says, for if his wife waiting at home asks for a gift from the shore, he will have nothing else to show her—a gesture of care for her. Even on a journey, his thoughts of his wife at home are warmly expressed through the things of the seashore.
Yamabe no Akahito's six poems center on travel along the shores of Harima and Settsu, interweaving longing for home and love.
The poet, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the reign of Shōmu who composed many poems on royal excursions and excelled in clear, limpid landscape verse. Later ages ranked him with Kakinomoto no Hitomaro as a "Saint of Poetry."

First line "When the tide runs out": na is the conditional stem of the perfective nu, with ba giving "if the tide ebbs."
Second line "gather up the fine seaweed": karitsumu means to gather by cutting, here in the imperative, addressed to his companions or to himself. The sentence breaks here.
Third line "If my wife at home" has one syllable too many.
Fourth line "should ask for a seaside gift": hamazuto is a present from the shore.
Fifth line "what else could I show to her": mu is conjectural—"what could I show? nothing," giving the reason for gathering seaweed.
Author
Yamabe no Akahito
Source
Manyoshu
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