Ōbune no omoi tanomishi kimi ga inaba are wa koimu na tada ni au made ni

大船の思ひ頼みし君が去なば
我れは恋ひむな直に逢ふまでに

Roma-ji: Ōbune no omoi tanomishi kimi ga inaba are wa koimu na tada ni au made ni
English Translation: Like a mighty ship,
you on whom I leaned my trust,
if you go from here,
how I will long for you, till
we can meet face to face again
Meaning: Once you, on whom I relied as on a great ship, have gone away, how I will long for you until we can meet face to face again.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 550

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems at the farewell banquet held at the Ashiki post station in Chikuzen for Ishikawa no Asomi Tarihito, Junior Assistant Governor-General of the Dazaifu"
The second of the farewell poems regrets parting: once the man relied upon like a great ship has gone, the speaker will long for him until they can meet in person again. Respect for a superior is expressed in the language of love, so that a farewell between officials borrows the idiom of the love poem.
The left note says "the authors of the above three poems are unknown," and no name has come down. The poem was presumably composed at the banquet by one of the Dazaifu officials.

First line, "Like a mighty ship," is ōbune no, a pillow word for "trust," from the reliability of a great vessel.
Second line, "you on whom I leaned my trust," uses shi, the attributive of past ki: you on whom I relied.
Third line, "if you go from here," runs to six syllables: if you should depart.
Fourth line, "how I will long for you, till," uses the conjectural mu and exclamatory na: how I shall long for you. The poem breaks after this line.
Fifth line, "we can meet face to face again," runs to eight syllables; like "yet we never meet at all" at the close of poem 496, it voices the wish to meet directly, tada ni.
Source: Manyoshu
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