Waga seko o itsu zo ima ka to matsu nae ni omo ya wa miemu aki no kaze fuku

我が背子をいつぞ今かと待つなへに
面やは見えむ秋の風吹く

Roma-ji: Waga seko o itsu zo ima ka to matsu nae ni omo ya wa miemu aki no kaze fuku
English Translation: For you, my dear one,
"when, is it now?" I wonder
as I wait for you:
will your face appear to me?
Only the autumn wind blows
Meaning: Just as I wait for you, wondering when, now or now, will your face appear? No; only the autumn wind blows.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1535

Headnote: "A poem by Lord Fujiwara no Umakai"
From the standpoint of a waiting woman, the poem says that though she waits for her lover, wondering whether he will come now, his face does not appear, and only the autumn wind blows. It is read as composed at a banquet or similar occasion in the voice of a woman.
The author, Fujiwara no Umakai, was a son of Fujiwara no Fuhito and the founder of the Shikike branch of the Fujiwara. He went to Tang China as vice-envoy and later became a Consultant.

The first line names the man she awaits.
The second line expresses anxious waiting: "when will he come, is it now?"
In the third line, "nae ni" means "just as."
The fourth line, with the rhetorical "ya wa," denies: will his face appear? No. The poem pauses here.
The final line states that the autumn wind blows, impressing on us the loneliness of wind that comes in place of the awaited person. Princess Nukata's 1606 in this book also sings of waiting, "as I wait for you, longing," and ends with the same line, "the autumn wind blows," so the autumn miscellaneous poems and the autumn love poems answer each other.
Author: Fujiwara no Umakai
Source: Manyoshu
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