Midoriko no haitamotoori asayoi ni ne nomi zo waga naku kimi nashi ni shite

みどり子の匍ひたもとほり朝夕に
哭のみぞ我が泣く君なしにして

Roma-ji: Midoriko no haitamotoori asayoi ni ne nomi zo waga naku kimi nashi ni shite
English Translation: Like a little babe
crawling round and round about,
morning and evening
I do nothing but weep aloud,
now that my lord is no more.
Meaning: Like an infant crawling about, morning and evening I do nothing but cry aloud, now that my lord is gone.
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 458

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 fifth of the six poems mourning Ōtomo no Tabito. Likening himself, bereft of his master, to an infant crawling about and crying with no one to depend on, he weeps morning and evening—helpless grief. A left note says these five were composed by the attendant Yo no Myōgun, who could not bear his devotion to his master. Repeating the sense of the third poem's "I can only weep aloud, from the morning till the night," it shows the depth of his grief.
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 "Like a little babe": midoriko is a small infant.
Second line "crawling round and round about": tamotooru means to wander to and fro. Up to here is a figure for himself.
Third line "morning and evening" means at all times.
Fourth line "I do nothing but weep aloud": zo is a binding particle concluded by the attributive naku.
Fifth line "now that my lord is no more" gives the reason by inversion.
Author: Yo no Myōgun
Source: Manyoshu
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