Ominaeshi sakisawa ni ouru hanakatsumi katsute mo shiranu koi mo suru kamo

をみなへし佐紀沢に生ふる花かつみ
かつても知らぬ恋もするかも

Roma-ji: Ominaeshi sakisawa ni ouru hanakatsumi katsute mo shiranu koi mo suru kamo
English Translation: Maidenflowers bloom
in the marsh of Saki there,
where the katsumi grows;
never have I known before
such a love as I feel now
Meaning: Like the katsumi growing in the marsh of Saki where maidenflowers bloom, I am in a love such as I have never known before.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 675

Headnote: "Five poems sent by Nakatomi no Iratsume to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
This is the first of five poems Nakatomi no Iratsume sent to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Taking as its preface the katsumi growing in the marsh of Saki, it uses the sound katsu to lead to katsute, "ever before," saying she is in a love she has never known.
The author, Nakatomi no Iratsume, was a woman of the Nakatomi clan of whom little is known, one of the women who sent love poems to Ōtomo no Yakamochi.

First line, "Maidenflowers bloom," is ominaeshi, a pillow word for Saki, since the maidenflower blooms (saku).
Second line, "in the marsh of Saki there," runs to eight syllables; Saki marsh lay north of the Heijō capital.
Third line, "where the katsumi grows," names a waterside plant whose sound katsu leads to katsute in the fourth line, the first three lines forming a preface.
Fourth line, "never have I known before," means that I did not know before.
Fifth line, "such a love as I feel now," means I am in such a love, with the exclamatory kamo.
Author: Nakatomi no Iratsume
Source: Manyoshu
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