Imo ni koi waga koeyukeba se no yama no imo ni koizute aru ga tomoshisa

妹に恋ひ我が越え行けば背の山の
妹に恋ひずてあるが羨しさ

Roma-ji: Imo ni koi waga koeyukeba se no yama no imo ni koizute aru ga tomoshisa
English Translation: Longing for my love
as I go across the hills,
how I envy Se,
that mountain who need not long
for his Imo at his side
Meaning: As I cross the hills longing for my wife, how I envy Mount Se, who never has to long for his Imo—she stands right beside him.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1208

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
While the poet crosses the hills longing for his wife, Mount Se stands beside Mount Imo and never suffers the pangs of love—and he envies it. Contrasting the mountains seen as husband and wife with himself, parted from his wife, the poem expresses longing for home and love.
It sings of the Imose mountains in Kii and, with the next two poems, forms a set of three on these mountains. It also shares the Imose mountains with poem 1193 in this book. It is regarded as coming from the Old Collection. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "Longing for my love," corresponds to "who need not long for his Imo" in the fourth line.
The second line, "as I go across the hills," has an extra syllable.
The third line, "how I envy Se," names Mount Se on the north bank of the Ki River.
The fourth line reverses the first line's "longing for my love," setting Mount Se against the poet.
The final line ends with the noun "tomoshisa" (enviableness): how enviable that it is so!
Source: Manyoshu
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