Imo ga tame are tama motomu okie naru shiratama yoseko okitsu shiranami

妹がため我れ玉求む沖辺なる
白玉寄せ来沖つ白波

Roma-ji: Imo ga tame are tama motomu okie naru shiratama yoseko okitsu shiranami
English Translation: For my darling's sake
I seek for jewels on the shore—
those that lie offshore,
bring the white pearls here to me,
O white waves of the open sea.
Meaning: For my wife's sake I am searching for jewels. You white waves of the open sea, bring me the white pearls that lie offshore.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1667

Headnote: "Thirteen poems from the time when the Retired Sovereign and the Late Sovereign made a progress to the province of Kii in the tenth month, winter, of the first year of Taihō, kanoto-ushi"
Searching for white pearls as a gift for his wife, the speaker calls on the white waves of the open sea to bring them to him.
According to the headnote, this is the first of thirteen poems from the progress to Kii made in the tenth month of the first year of Taihō (701) by the Retired Sovereign, Jitō, and the Late Sovereign, Monmu. The term "Late Sovereign" refers to a sovereign who has died before receiving a posthumous name, showing that this record was compiled after Monmu's death.
A left note says that this poem has already appeared above, but because its wording differs slightly and its date is different, it is entered again. It is almost the same as poem 1665 of this book: "I gather jewels" has become "I seek for jewels," and "bring them here and cast them up" has become "bring the white pearls here to me." A poem from Saimei's progress seems to have been sung again on a progress some forty years later.

The first line, "for my darling's sake," is the same as the opening of 1665.
The second line, "I seek for jewels on the shore," ends with a pause. Compared with "I gather" in 1665, it shows someone still searching for jewels not yet found.
The third line, "those that lie offshore," is identical to that of 1665.
The fourth line, "bring the white pearls here to me," is a command; shiratama means pearls. By naming them "white pearls," the poem lets their whiteness echo the "white waves" of the last line.
The final line, "O white waves of the open sea," places the addressee at the end in inversion and closes on a noun, exactly as in 1665.
Source: Manyoshu
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