Minawa nasu moroki inochi mo takunawa no chihiro ni mo ga to negai kurashitsu

水沫なすもろき命も栲縄の
千尋にもがと願ひ暮らしつ

Roma-ji: Minawa nasu moroki inochi mo takunawa no chihiro ni mo ga to negai kurashitsu
English Translation: Like the froth on water,
though it is so frail a life,
like a rope of paper-mulberry,
may it stretch a thousand fathoms —
so I have prayed day by day
Meaning: Though my life is as fragile as froth on water, I have spent my days praying it might stretch a thousand fathoms, like a long mulberry rope.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 902

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 says that though his life is as fragile as foam, he has spent his days praying it might stretch a thousand fathoms like a long rope. Though suffering enough to think of death, he expresses the wavering wish to live long for his children's sake.
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, "minawa nasu": "like foam on water," a figure for fragility.
Second line, "moroki inochi mo": "even this frail life."
Third line, "takunawa no": a rope made of paper-mulberry fiber, a pillow word for "a thousand fathoms" as something long.
Fourth line, "chihiro ni mo ga to": "chihiro" means very long, and "mo ga" expresses a wish.
Fifth line, "negai kurashitsu": "tsu" marks completion: I have spent my days praying so. The brevity of "foam" in the first line contrasts with the length of "a thousand fathoms" in the fourth.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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