Aratae no nunoginu o dani kisekate ni kaku ya nagekamu semu sube o nami

荒栲の布衣をだに着せかてに
かくや嘆かむ為むすべをなみ

Roma-ji: Aratae no nunoginu o dani kisekate ni kaku ya nagekamu semu sube o nami
English Translation: Coarse and rough-woven,
not even a robe of hemp
can I give them to wear;
must I go on grieving thus,
with nothing I can do?
Meaning: Unable to clothe my children even in a coarse hemp robe, must I go on grieving like this, with nothing I can do?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 901

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Seven poems on suffering for years from grave illness in old age, and on thinking of my children: one long, six short"
The poet laments that he cannot dress his children even in coarse cloth, and can only grieve helplessly. Contrasted with the silks of the rich in the preceding poem, it painfully expresses a parent's helplessness to provide for his children.
This is one of the tanka among seven poems on suffering for years from grave illness in old age and on thinking of one's children; the seven consist of one long poem and six tanka. The long poem laments that although one would wish life to be peaceful to its end, illness has been added to old age, so that the poet sighs by day and groans by night, and though he thinks of dying he cannot bring himself to abandon his noisy children. The left note dates it to the third day of the sixth month of Tenpyō 5.
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, "aratae no": "of rough weave," a pillow word for cloth.
Second line, "nunoginu o dani": "nunoginu" is a coarse robe of hemp or the like, and "dani" means "not even." It contrasts with the preceding poem's silk and floss.
Third line, "kisekate ni": "unable to clothe them."
Fourth line, "kaku ya nagekamu": "ya" is resolved by "mu": must I grieve like this? The poem breaks here.
Fifth line, "semu sube o nami": "having no way to act," the reason for grief given last by inversion.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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