Ie ni araba imo ga te makamu kusamakura tabi ni koyaseru kono tabito aware

家にあらば妹が手まかむ草枕
旅に臥やせるこの旅人あはれ

Roma-ji: Ie ni araba imo ga te makamu kusamakura tabi ni koyaseru kono tabito aware
English Translation: Had he been at home,
he would pillow on his wife's arm;
with grass for a pillow,
lying here upon his journey—
ah, this traveler, poor soul!
Meaning: Had he been at home, he would be resting his head on his wife's arm—but here he lies fallen on his journey, this poor traveler, alas!
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 415

Headnote: "A poem composed in grief by Prince Kamitsumiya Shōtoku on seeing a dead man on Mount Tatsuta when he went out to Takaharai," with the note "In the reign of the sovereign who ruled the realm at the Oharida palace; the sovereign who ruled at the Oharida palace was Toyomikekashikiyahime; her personal name was Nukata, her posthumous name Suiko"
This poem stands at the head of the Elegies of Book Three. When Prince Shōtoku went out to Takaharai, he saw a traveler lying dead on Mount Tatsuta and grieved: at home, he would be pillowing his head on his wife's arm—deep pity for one who died on the road. It is a representative poem mourning a traveler who died by the wayside, and it echoes the legend in the Nihon Shoki, in the twenty-first year of Empress Suiko, of the prince pitying a starving man at Kataokayama.
The poet, Prince Shōtoku, was a son of Emperor Yōmei. As regent for Empress Suiko, he established the twelve cap ranks and the Seventeen-Article Constitution, and worked to promote Buddhism.

First line "Had he been at home" is a condition.
Second line "he would pillow on his wife's arm": maku means to use as a pillow, and mu is conjectural. The sentence breaks here.
Third line "with grass for a pillow": kusamakura is a pillow word for "journey," since travelers slept on grass.
Fourth line "lying here upon his journey": koyasu, the honorific of koyu, "to lie down," shows respect for the dead.
Fifth line "ah, this traveler, poor soul": aware is an exclamation of deep feeling, ending in mourning. The line has one syllable too many.
Author: Prince Shōtoku
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ashihiki no iwane kogoshimi suga no ne o hikaba katami to shime nomi zo yuu
Next Poem: Momozutau Iware no ike ni naku kamo o kyō nomi mite ya kumogakurinamu