Tachibana no moto ni michi fumu yachimata ni mono o zo omou hito ni shiraezu

橘の本に道踏む八衢に
物をぞ思ふ人に知らえず

Roma-ji: Tachibana no moto ni michi fumu yachimata ni mono o zo omou hito ni shiraezu
English Translation: Beneath the orange tree
treading the paths that wander
at the many-forked crossroads,
thus lost in thought I brood,
unknown to anyone
Meaning: Like the many-forked crossroads where the paths are trodden beneath the orange tree, I am lost in brooding, unknown to anyone.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1027

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems from a banquet at the house of the Minister of the Right, Tachibana, on the twentieth day of the eighth month, in autumn"
This is a poem of secret love: like the crossroads beneath the orange tree where paths branch in many directions, the speaker is torn by many thoughts, unknown to anyone. The image of hesitating at forking roads is overlaid with the unsettled feelings of love.
According to the headnote, these are four poems from a banquet held at the house of the Minister of the Right, Tachibana no Moroe, on the twentieth day of the eighth month in autumn. The headnote gives no year, but the arrangement suggests the banquet took place in Tenpyō 10 (738). Moroe had become Minister of the Right in the first month of that year, and officials gathered for a banquet at his residence.
According to the left note, the Senior Controller of the Right, Takahashi no Yasumaro, said that it was "a poem by the late Palace Attendant of Toshima." However, a certain text records it as a poem composed by the monk Mikata longing for his wife, the daughter of Sono no Omi, and the compiler of the note surmises that, if so, the Palace Attendant of Toshima must have recited this poem on some occasion. Indeed, 125 in Book Two contains a very similar poem attributed to the monk Mikata: "At the many-forked crossroads where I tread the shade of the orange tree, I brood, not meeting my beloved." It seems that an old poem containing "tachibana" was recited in honor of the house of Tachibana no Moroe, the host of the banquet.
The poet, the Palace Attendant of Toshima, seems to have been a court attendant who came to serve at the palace from the district of Toshima, but nothing more is known of her. Since the left note calls her "the late," she had already died by the time of this banquet.

Placed with the preceding poem, 1026, as a poem of the Palace Attendant of Toshima, this poem of secret brooding follows the poem of a waiting woman. The word "tachibana" also carries praise for the house of Tachibana, the host of the banquet.
The first line, "Beneath the orange tree," coincides with the surname of the host, Tachibana no Moroe, and so also serves as a greeting to the gathering.
The second line, "treading the paths that wander," means walking along the path beneath the tree, and together with the first line leads to the "crossroads" of the third line.
The third line, "at the many-forked crossroads," means a place where roads branch in eight directions. The first three lines form an introductory phrase leading to the image of a mind torn this way and that.
The fourth line, "thus lost in thought I brood," is a kakari-musubi construction in which the particle "zo" is answered by "omou" in the attributive form. The sense breaks here, after the fourth line.
The final line, "unknown to anyone," uses "-e," a form of the passive auxiliary "yu," with the negative "-zu." Through inversion with the fourth line, it reveals only at the very end that this is a hidden love.
Author: The Palace Attendant of Toshima
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Momoshiki no ōmiyabito wa kyō mo kamo itoma o nami to sato ni idezu aramu
Next Poem: Masurao no takamatoyama ni semetareba sato ni orikeru muzasabi zo kore