Hitoyo ni wa futatabi mienu chichihaha o okite ya nagaku a ga wakarenamu

一世にはふたたび見えぬ父母を
置きてや長く我が別れなむ

Roma-ji: Hitoyo ni wa futatabi mienu chichihaha o okite ya nagaku a ga wakarenamu
English Translation: In a single life
never twice may one meet them —
father and mother,
must I leave them now behind,
parting from them for all time?
Meaning: Must I leave behind my father and mother, whom one can never meet twice in a lifetime, and part from them forever?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 891

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems respectfully composed by Yamanoue no Okura, Governor of Chikuzen, in response, expressing Kumagori's feelings on his behalf, with preface"
The poem laments that he must leave behind his parents, whom one never meets twice in a lifetime, and part from them forever. As the last of the five tanka, it sums up the grief of eternal parting from his parents.
For the last line, a variant introduced as "one version says" reads "shall we part from one another." Here the main text is followed.
The preface records that Ōtomo no Kimi Kumagori, of Mashiki District in Higo, was on his way to the capital on the seventeenth day of the sixth month of Tenpyō 3, aged eighteen, as attendant to a provincial official serving as wrestling envoy, when he fell ill and died at the Takaba post station in Saeki District, Aki. On his deathbed he said that this borrowed body perishes easily and a life like foam cannot be held, but his aged parents in their hut were waiting for his return and would weep themselves blind on learning he would not come; what grieved him was not his own death but their suffering, and he composed six poems and died. Okura, speaking in Kumagori's place, wrote one long poem and five tanka.
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, "hitoyo ni wa": "within one lifetime."
Second line, "futatabi mienu": "never to be met again," drawing on the idea that one's bond with parents is for one life only.
Third line, "chichihaha o": the parents left at home.
Fourth line, "okite ya nagaku": "ya" poses a question resolved by "namu" in the last line; "nagaku" means forever.
Fifth line, "a ga wakarenamu": "shall I part from them," closing the five poems on the grief of eternal parting.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Idete yukishi hi o kazoetsutsu kyō kyō to a o matasuramu chichihahara wa mo
Next Poem: Yo no naka o ushi to yasashi to omoedomo tobitachi kanetsu tori ni shi araneba