Haru sareba wagie no sato no kawato ni wa ayuko sabashiru kimi machigate ni

春されば我家の里の川門には
鮎子さ走る君待ちがてに

Roma-ji: Haru sareba wagie no sato no kawato ni wa ayuko sabashiru kimi machigate ni
English Translation: When the spring comes round,
at the river crossing by
the village of my home,
the young sweetfish dart about,
too eager to wait for you
Meaning: When spring comes, at the river crossing by the village where I live, the young sweetfish dart about, unable to wait for you.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 859

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three more poems in reply by the girls"
The girl says that when spring comes, young sweetfish dart about at the river crossing of her village, unable to wait for him. In the leaping fish she mirrors her own eager heart awaiting her lover's visit.
The headnote reads "Three more poems in reply by the girls"; they take the form of the girls' answers to the wandering guest's three poems, but they are the work of the tale's author.
This belongs to the sequence that begins with "Preface on an Excursion to the Matsura River." The preface tells how the author, wandering by the pools of Tamashima in Matsura, met some girls fishing whose beauty was like that of immortal maidens; they answered that they were fishermen's children with neither village nor home, yet asked to be joined with him until old age. It is a fictional tale that borrows the conceits of the Chinese romance of the immortals, You xian ku. It is most commonly attributed to Ōtomo no Tabito, though some ascribe it to Yamanoue no Okura.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the father of Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Late in the Jinki era he went down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of Dazaifu, returned to the capital in Tenpyō 2 as Major Counselor, and died the following year. Versed in Chinese letters and Daoist thought, he formed a literary circle at Dazaifu with Yamanoue no Okura and others, known as the Tsukushi poetic circle.

First line, "haru sareba": "when spring comes," giving the season.
Second line, "wagie no sato no": "wagie" is "my home"; the village where she lives, with a hint of inviting him there.
Third line, "kawato ni wa": "kawato" is a river crossing, where the stream narrows.
Fourth line, "ayuko sabashiru": "sa" is a prefix; young sweetfish darting as if running. The poem breaks here.
Fifth line, "kimi machigate ni": "gate ni" means unable to bear: impatient for you. The inversion lays her heart over the darting fish.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Wakayu tsuru matsura no kawa no kawanami no nami ni shi omowaba ware koime ya mo
Next Poem: Matsuragawa nanase no yodo wa yodomu tomo ware wa yodomazu kimi o shi matamu