Tamakagiru honoka ni miete wakarenaba motona ya koimu au toki made wa

玉かぎるほのかに見えて別れなば
もとなや恋ひむ逢ふ時までは

Roma-ji: Tamakagiru honoka ni miete wakarenaba motona ya koimu au toki made wa
English Translation: Like a jewel's gleam,
if we part after we've seen
each other so faintly,
how helplessly I will long
until the time that we meet
Meaning: If we part after only a faint glimpse of each other, how helplessly I will long for you until the time we meet again.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1526

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twelve poems on the Tanabata festival by Yamanoue no Omi Okura"
The poem laments that if, at their once-a-year meeting, the lovers part after only a faint glimpse, the speaker will long helplessly until they meet again. The brevity of the meeting is set against the long wait that follows. The note assigns it to a gathering at the Governor-General's house on the night of the eighth day of the seventh month of Tenpyō 2 (730).
The author, Yamanoue no Okura, was an official and poet of the early Nara period. He went to Tang China as a member of an embassy and later became governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems that look closely at human life and society.

The first line, "tamakagiru," is a pillow word for "faintly," from the faint gleam of a jewel.
The second line, "seen faintly," shows how fleeting the meeting is.
The third line is a supposition formed by the perfective "na" with "ba": "if we part."
In the fourth line, "motona" means "helplessly," and with the interrogative "ya" and conjectural "mu," the speaker laments how she will long. The poem pauses here.
The final line, "until the time we meet," names at the end, by inversion, the long gap of a year.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Sode furaba mi mo kawashitsubeku chikakedomo wataru sube nashi aki ni shi araneba
Next Poem: Hikoboshi no tsumamukaebune kogizurashi ama no kawara ni kiri no tateru wa