Amanogawa ukitsu no namioto sawaku nari waga matsu kimi shi funade surashi mo

天の川浮津の波音騒くなり
我が待つ君し舟出すらしも

Roma-ji: Amanogawa ukitsu no namioto sawaku nari waga matsu kimi shi funade surashi mo
English Translation: The River of Heaven:
at the landing, sounds of waves
stir with noisy splash;
the one I wait for, it seems,
is setting out by boat
Meaning: I hear the waves astir at the landing on the River of Heaven; the one I wait for must be setting out by boat.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1529

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twelve poems on the Tanabata festival by Yamanoue no Omi Okura"
Hearing the waves stirring at the landing on the River of Heaven, the Weaver Maiden surmises that the Herdsman she awaits has set out by boat. It conveys a heart leaping with expectation as it senses the lover's approach from the sound of the waves. This is the last of the twelve Tanabata poems.
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 names the river that separates the pair.
The second line names the sound of the waves at the landing where boats float; it has an extra syllable.
In the third line, "nari" is an auxiliary of inference from sound: "I hear them astir." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line stresses, with the emphatic "shi," "the one I wait for."
The final line adds the exclamatory "mo" to the inferential "rashi," surmising that he has set out. Whereas an earlier poem knew of his setting out from the mist it saw, this one knows it from the sound of the waves, so poems sensing his coming by eye and by ear stand together and close the Tanabata sequence.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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