Wagimoko ga yado no magaki o mi ni yukaba kedashi kado yori kaeshitemu kamo

我妹子がやどの籬を見に行かば
けだし門より帰してむかも

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ga yado no magaki o mi ni yukaba kedashi kado yori kaeshitemu kamo
English Translation: If I went to see
the hedge around my dear one's house,
just to look at it,
would you, as it may well be,
send me back from at the gate
Meaning: If I went to look at the hedge around your house, my dear, would you perhaps send me away at the gate?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 777

Headnote: "Five more poems sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi to Ki no Iratsume"
This is the first of five more poems Yakamochi sent to Ki no Iratsume. If he went to look at the hedge around her house, would she send him back at the gate? he jests, hinting at a visit.
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, "If I went to see," means my beloved's.
Second line, "the hedge around my dear one's house," names magaki, a fence of bamboo or brushwood.
Third line, "just to look at it," means if I went to see it.
Fourth line, "would you, as it may well be," uses kedashi, "perhaps," from the gate.
Fifth line, "send me back from at the gate," uses the emphatic te and conjectural mu: would you send me back?
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Kotodeshi wa ta ga koto ni aru ka oyamada no nawashiromizu no nakayodo ni shite
Next Poem: Utsutae ni magaki no sugata mimaku hori yukamu to ie ya kimi o mi ni koso