Ume no hana torimochi mireba waga yado no yanagi no mayu shi omooyuru ka mo

梅の花取り持ち見れば我が宿の
柳の眉し思ほゆるかも

Roma-ji: Ume no hana torimochi mireba waga yado no yanagi no mayu shi omooyuru ka mo
English Translation: Blossoms of the plum
taking up in hand I gaze—
at my own dwelling
the willow's eyebrow-like leaves
come floating into my mind.
Meaning: As I take plum blossoms in my hand and gaze at them, the willow at my home, with its young leaves like a woman's eyebrows, comes to mind.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1853

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Willows"
This poem, holding plum blossoms and gazing at them, recalls the young leaves of the willow in the poet's garden, and it closes the willow group. "Yanagi no mayu," the willow's eyebrows, likens young willow leaves to a woman's eyebrows, so that even while admiring the plum, the heart turns to the willow at home and then to someone whose brows it suggests. Placing plum at the end of the willow group, it stands as a bridge into the following group on flowers.

The first line, "plum blossoms," brings in a different flower within the willow group.
The second line, "when I take them in hand and look," uses "ba" as an established condition.
The third line, "of my dwelling," uses "yado," house or home.
In the fourth line, "yanagi no mayu shi," the phrase likens young willow leaves to a woman's eyebrows, and "shi" is an emphatic particle, faintly evoking a lovely woman's face.
In the last line, "omooyuru ka mo," "omooyu" means to come to mind naturally and "ka mo" is exclamatory, closing as the heart moves from the plum before it to the willow at home.
Source: Manyoshu
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