Harobaro ni omōyuru kamo shirakumo no chie ni hedateru tsukushi no kuni wa

はろはろに思ほゆるかも白雲の
千重に隔てる筑紫の国は

Roma-ji: Harobaro ni omōyuru kamo shirakumo no chie ni hedateru tsukushi no kuni wa
English Translation: Far, so far away
it seems to me, beyond all reach —
by the white clouds
layered a thousandfold between,
the land of Tsukushi
Meaning: How very far away it seems, the land of Tsukushi, cut off by a thousand layers of white cloud.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 866

Headnote: "My thoughts of you are not yet exhausted; two more poems"
The poet says that the land of Tsukushi, separated by a thousand layers of white cloud, seems very far away. Turning into verse the letter's words of blue sea dividing the land and white clouds dividing the sky, he laments the distance to Tsukushi, where Tabito is.
The headnote reads "My thoughts of you are not yet exhausted; two more poems," and these were written after the letter and the two preceding poems to add feelings still unspent. The left note is dated the tenth day of the seventh month of Tenpyō 2.
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, "harobaro ni": far, far away.
Second line, "omōyuru kamo": "kamo" exclaims; the poem breaks here.
Third line, "shirakumo no": white clouds in the sky, the emblem of what divides at a distance.
Fourth line, "chie ni hedateru": "separating in a thousand layers."
Fifth line, "Tsukushi no kuni wa": by inversion, the far-seeming land is named last, closing on a noun.
Author: Kichita no Yoroshi
Source: Manyoshu
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