Shio hayami isomi ni oreba kazuki suru ama to ya miramu tabi yuku ware o

潮早み磯廻に居れば潜きする
海人とや見らむ旅行く我れを

Roma-ji: Shio hayami isomi ni oreba kazuki suru ama to ya miramu tabi yuku ware o
English Translation: The tide runs so swift
I linger along the rocks—
would they take me for
a fisherman who dives,
me, a traveler passing through?
Meaning: The tide runs so swift that I linger on the rocky shore—would they take me for a fisherman who dives, I who am only a traveler passing through?
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1234

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
Held on the rocky shore because the tide runs too swift to put out, the poet wonders whether people will take him for a diving fisherman. The frustration of being delayed on a journey mingles with light humor at his own figure lingering by the sea.
With the same idea as poem 1187 in this book, "Do they take me for a fisherman hauling his net," and poem 1204, "would they take me for a fisherman," poems about being mistaken for a fisherman recur. It is regarded as coming from the Old Collection. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "The tide runs so swift," is a "-mi" form of cause.
The second line, "I linger along the rocks," places the poet on the shore.
The third line, "who dives," modifies "fisherman" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "would they take me for a fisherman," is a kakari-musubi construction in which "ya" is answered by the attributive "ramu," and the poem pauses here. It corresponds to lines in poems 1187 and 1204.
The final line, "me, a traveler passing through," gives by inversion the one being seen.
Source: Manyoshu
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