Inishie no furuki tsutsumi wa toshi fukami ike no nagisa ni mikusa oinikeri

いにしへの古き堤は年深み
池の渚に水草生ひにけり

Roma-ji: Inishie no furuki tsutsumi wa toshi fukami ike no nagisa ni mikusa oinikeri
English Translation: Of the days of old,
the ancient embankment here,
so deep in years now,
at the water's edge of the pond
water weeds have overgrown.
Meaning: The old embankment from long ago has aged so many years that water weeds now grow thick along the edge of the pond.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 378

Headnote: "A poem by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito on the garden pond of the late Chancellor Fujiwara"
The poem sings of the garden pond at the residence of the late Chancellor Fujiwara no Fuhito. On the old embankment of a pond now without its master, water weeds have grown thick after long years—quietly expressing the passage of time and thoughts of the departed. Fuhito died in Yōrō 4 (720) and was posthumously named Chancellor.
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 "Of the days of old" means from long ago.
Second line "the ancient embankment here" doubles the sense of age with the first line.
Third line "so deep in years now": mi gives the cause—because many years have passed.
Fourth line "at the water's edge of the pond" names the pond's margin.
Fifth line "water weeds have overgrown": nikeri voices realization, ending with a fresh sense of the years gone by.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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