Kaku nomi ni arikeru mono o hagi no hana sakite ari ya to toishi kimi wa mo

かくのみにありけるものを萩の花
咲きてありやと問ひし君はも

Roma-ji: Kaku nomi ni arikeru mono o hagi no hana sakite ari ya to toishi kimi wa mo
English Translation: Though it was to be
no more than this in the end,
the bush clover's blooms—
"Have they come to flower?" he asked,
ah, my lord who asked me so!
Meaning: Though his end was so near, he asked me whether the bush clover had bloomed—ah, my lord!
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 455

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems on the death of the Great Counselor Lord Ōtomo in the seventh month of autumn, Tenpyō 3, the year kanoto-hitsuji"
This is the second of the six poems mourning Ōtomo no Tabito. Remembering how his master, with death so near, asked whether the bush clover in the garden had bloomed, the poet grieves deeply. Tabito's refined heart, still thinking of flowers on his sickbed, and the sorrow that those became his last words are packed into a few short phrases.
The six poems on the death of the Great Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito in the seventh month of autumn in Tenpyō 3 (731) form a sequence grieving the loss of a master. The left note to the fifth says these five were composed by the attendant Yo no Myōgun, who could not bear his devotion to his lord and was deeply moved in his heart.
The poet, Yo no Myōgun, is thought to have been a descendant of immigrants from Paekche, and served Ōtomo no Tabito as his attendant.

First line "Though it was to be" refers to the end, his death.
Second line "no more than this in the end": mono o is concessive.
Third line "the bush clover's blooms": hagi, one of the seven flowers of autumn, was loved by Tabito.
Fourth line "'Have they come to flower?' he asked": ya is interrogative.
Fifth line "ah, my lord who asked me so": wa mo is a sigh of longing.
Author: Yo no Myōgun
Source: Manyoshu
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