Kikitsu ya to imo ga towaseru karigane wa makoto mo tōku kumogakuru nari

聞きつやと妹が問はせる雁が音は
まことも遠く雲隠るなり

Roma-ji: Kikitsu ya to imo ga towaseru karigane wa makoto mo tōku kumogakuru nari
English Translation: "Did you hear," you asked,
my dear one, and the geese
whose cry you asked of
are indeed so far away:
into the clouds they vanish
Meaning: The cry of the geese that you asked if I had heard is truly far away; it seems to be vanishing into the clouds.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1563

Headnote: "A poem in reply by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
Answering Kamnagi no Aso no Otome's question whether anyone heard the geese, Yakamochi replies that their cry is truly far away and seems to be vanishing into the clouds. The distance of the geese's voice is also read as hinting at a distance that keeps him from fully answering her feelings.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.

The first line, "did you hear," takes up the preceding poem's opening, "did anyone hear?"
The second line, with the honorific "su" and continuative "ri," means "that you asked."
The third line takes up "the geese" of the preceding poem.
The fourth line means "truly far away."
In the final line, "nari" is an auxiliary of inference from sound: they seem to be hiding in the clouds, as he follows the receding voices by ear. Kasa no Kanamura's 1454 in this book likewise lays the grief of parting over an island hidden in clouds, sharing the device of entrusting a great distance to something vanishing into clouds.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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