Okure ite nagakoi sezu wa misonou no ume no hana ni mo naramashi mono o

後れ居て長恋せずは御園生の
梅の花にもならましものを

Roma-ji: Okure ite nagakoi sezu wa misonou no ume no hana ni mo naramashi mono o
English Translation: Rather than stay behind
and suffer a long, long longing,
in your fair garden
a blossom of the plum tree
I would rather be instead
Meaning: Rather than stay behind and pine for you so long, I would sooner become a plum blossom in your garden.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 864

Headnote: "A poem respectfully composed in response to the plum blossom poems of the company"
The poet says that rather than being left behind in the capital to long for his friend, he would rather become a plum blossom in his garden. Responding from the capital to the plum banquet poems, he expresses his devotion to Tabito through the wish to become a plum in the banquet garden.
The letter in the headnote tells how Kichita no Yoroshi received Ōtomo no Tabito's letter dated the sixth day of the fourth month, opened it, read it, and felt his heart lighten. He consoles Tabito, who, a traveler in a frontier land, longs for the past and weeps at the passing years, and prays for his long life. He adds that he read with admiration the poems of the plum blossom banquet and the exchange with the immortal maidens of Tamashima in Matsura that Tabito had shown him, and, lamenting the distance of blue sea dividing the land and white clouds dividing the sky, sends his reply by the officer escorting the wrestlers.
The poet, Kichita no Yoroshi, is said to have descended from immigrants from Paekche. He was originally a monk named Eshun, but returned to lay life by imperial order and was granted the name Kichita no Muraji. Skilled in medicine, he later served as Head of the Bureau of Books and Drawings, among other posts.

First line, "okure ite": "left behind," Tabito being in Tsukushi while the poet remains in the capital.
Second line, "nagakoi sezu wa": "zu wa" means "rather than": rather than longing on and on.
Third line, "misonou no": "of your honored garden," the garden where Tabito held the plum banquet.
Fourth line, "ume no hana ni mo": "a plum blossom, at least."
Fifth line, "naramashi mono o": the counterfactual "mashi": if only I could become one. It answers the banquet poem 819 by using the same lower lines.
Author: Kichita no Yoroshi
Source: Manyoshu
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