Nani su to ka tsukai no kitsuru kimi o koso kanimo kakunimo machikate ni sure

何すとか使の来つる君をこそ
かにもかくにも待ちかてにすれ

Roma-ji: Nani su to ka tsukai no kitsuru kimi o koso kanimo kakunimo machikate ni sure
English Translation: Why is it, I ask,
that a messenger has come;
it is you, my lord,
you whom, come what may, I have
waited for, and cannot wait
Meaning: Why has a messenger come? It is you yourself, come what may, that I have been waiting for so impatiently.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 629

Headnote: "A banquet poem by Ōtomo no Yotsuna"
At a banquet, the poet reproaches the sending of a messenger in place of the expected guest: it was the guest himself he had been waiting for. It uses the same phrase as the preceding poem, kanimo kakunimo, "come what may," so poems sharing a phrase are set side by side. It seems to be a piece for entertaining the company.
The author, Ōtomo no Yotsuna, was an official of the Ōtomo clan who served as assistant commander of the frontier guards at the Dazaifu.

First line, "Why is it, I ask," asks why, ka being closed by tsuru in the second line.
Second line, "that a messenger has come," means has a messenger come? The poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "it is you, my lord," singles out "you" with koso, closed by sure in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "you whom, come what may, I have," is kanimo kakunimo, the same line as in the preceding poem.
Fifth line, "waited for, and cannot wait," uses kate ni, "unable": I cannot bear to wait. It closes koso in the perfective.
Author: Ōtomo no Yotsuna
Source: Manyoshu
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