Hitomone no urabure oru ni tatsutayama mima chikazukaba wasurashinamu ka

ひともねのうらぶれ居るに竜田山
御馬近づかば忘らしなむか

Roma-ji: Hitomone no urabure oru ni tatsutayama mima chikazukaba wasurashinamu ka
English Translation: All of us as one
are sunk in gloom, and yet, when to
Tatsuta Mountain
your honored horse draws near, will you
forget us then entirely?
Meaning: All of us here are sunk in gloom, yet when your horse draws near Mount Tatsuta, will you forget us?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 877

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four Japanese poems on the day of a farewell banquet in the library hall"
The poet asks whether, when Tabito reaches Mount Tatsuta near the capital, he will forget those left behind, all sunk in gloom. Imagining Tabito's joy with the capital in sight, he frankly expresses the loneliness of those left behind.
The headnote reads "Four Japanese poems on the day of a farewell banquet in the library hall." They were composed at a send-off held in the library hall of Dazaifu in the winter of Tenpyō 2 for Ōtomo no Tabito, who had been appointed Major Counselor and was returning to the capital; "Japanese poems" distinguishes them from Chinese verse. No author is named, but like the three poems that follow they are generally attributed to Yamanoue no Okura.
The poet, Yamanoue no Okura, was an official who went to Tang China as a junior secretary with the embassy appointed in Taihō 1. After his return he served as Governor of Hōki and in the household of the Crown Prince, and late in the Jinki era he was posted to Tsukushi as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems rooted in everyday life, on the sufferings of human existence, love for family, and poverty, written against a background of learning in Chinese classics and Buddhist scripture.

First line, "hitomone no": an obscure word, taken to mean "all alike, all together."
Second line, "urabure oru ni": "uraburu" means to be dispirited and sad, the gloomy state of those seeing him off.
Third line, "Tatsutayama": the mountain on the border of Yamato and Kawachi, on the way from Naniwa to the capital; beyond it the capital is near.
Fourth line, "mima chikazukaba": "when your horse draws near" to Mount Tatsuta.
Fifth line, "wasurashinamu ka": "shi" is from the honorific "su": will you deign to forget us? The poem closes in worry.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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