Kedashiku mo hito no nakagoto kikase kamo kokodaku matedo kimi ga kimasanu

けだしくも人の中言聞かせかも
ここだく待てど君が来まさぬ

Roma-ji: Kedashiku mo hito no nakagoto kikase kamo kokodaku matedo kimi ga kimasanu
English Translation: Can it be, perhaps,
that you've heard some slander spread
by some other's tongue,
that though I wait for you so,
you, my friend, do not come here
Meaning: Could it be that you have heard some slander about me, that though I wait for you so long, you do not come?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 680

Headnote: "Three poems by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on parting from a friend"
This is the first of three poems Ōtomo no Yakamochi wrote on parting from a close friend. Though he waits so long, the friend does not come; has he heard some slander? Yakamochi worries over his friend's change of heart, expressing friendship in the language of love. Like Lady Sakanoue's poem 660, it speaks of hito no nakagoto, "people's slanders," and the fear of calumny echoes between them.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a poet thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū. He later rose to the rank of Middle Counselor.

First line, "Can it be, perhaps," means possibly.
Second line, "that you've heard some slander spread," names nakagoto, slander, the same word as in the fourth line of poem 660.
Third line, "by some other's tongue," uses kikasu, honorific of kiku: is it because you have heard? It is closed by the attributive in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "that though I wait for you so," means though I wait so much.
Fifth line, "you, my friend, do not come here," uses nu, the attributive of negative zu: you do not come.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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