Miredo akazu imashishi kimi ga momichiba no utsuri iyukeba kanashiku mo aru ka

見れど飽かずいましし君が黄葉の
うつりい行けば悲しくもあるか

Roma-ji: Miredo akazu imashishi kimi ga momichiba no utsuri iyukeba kanashiku mo aru ka
English Translation: Never could I tire
of gazing on my dear lord—
like the autumn leaves
he has passed away from us,
and how grievous is my heart!
Meaning: My lord, whom I could never tire of seeing, has passed away like the scattering autumn leaves—how sad it is!
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 459

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 last of the six poems mourning Ōtomo no Tabito, closing the sequence. The lord he could have gazed on forever has passed away like falling autumn leaves. A left note says that the Emperor ordered Agatainukai no Hitokami, Head of the Office of Palace Ceremonial, to tend the lord in his illness, but medicine had no effect and, like flowing water that will not stay, he died; grieving, Hitokami composed this poem. Its author differs from that of the preceding five.
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, Agatainukai no Hitokami, was a Nara-period official who served as Head of the Office of Palace Ceremonial and, by imperial command, tended Tabito in his illness.

First line "Never could I tire" has one syllable too many.
Second line "of gazing on my dear lord": imashi is the continuative of the honorific imasu, and shi the past.
Third line "like the autumn leaves": momichiba are colored leaves, whose falling leads to utsuru.
Fourth line "he has passed away from us": utsuru means to move away and i is a prefix.
Fifth line "and how grievous is my heart": ka is exclamatory; the line has one syllable too many.
Author: Agatainukai no Hitokami
Source: Manyoshu
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