Iso no ue ni nebau muro no ki mishi hito o izura to towaba kataritsugemu ka

磯の上に根延ふむろの木見し人を
いづらと問はば語り告げむか

Roma-ji: Iso no ue ni nebau muro no ki mishi hito o izura to towaba kataritsugemu ka
English Translation: Upon the rocky shore,
juniper with roots spread wide—
if I ask of you,
"Where is she who once saw you?"
will you tell me where she is?
Meaning: Juniper with your roots spread over the rocky shore—if I ask you where the one who saw you has gone, will you tell me?
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 448

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems composed by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Lord Ōtomo, when setting out for the capital in the twelfth month of winter, Tenpyō 2, the year kanoe-uma"
This is the third of the five poems composed on the way to the capital. Calling to the juniper rooted on the rocks, he asks whether it would tell him where the one who once saw it has gone—a grief so deep that he questions a tree that cannot answer. The left note says these three were composed on the day of passing Tomo Bay, and here the three poems on the juniper close.
In the twelfth month of winter in Tenpyō 2 (730), Tabito, appointed Great Counselor and traveling from Dazaifu to the capital, saw again, alone, the scenes of Tomo Bay and Cape Minume that he had seen with his late wife on the way out, and composed this sequence.
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 "Upon the rocky shore" has one syllable too many.
Second line "juniper with roots spread wide": nebau means to spread roots, and he addresses the tree.
Third line "she who once saw you" refers to his late wife.
Fourth line "if I ask of you, 'Where is she'": izura means "where."
Fifth line "will you tell me where she is": mu is conjectural and ka interrogative.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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