Amama akete kunimi mo semu o furusato no hanatachibana wa chirinikemu ka mo

雨間明けて国見もせむを故郷の
花橘は散りにけむかも

Roma-ji: Amama akete kunimi mo semu o furusato no hanatachibana wa chirinikemu ka mo
English Translation: When the rain lets up,
I'd go view the land, and yet
in my old home town
have the blossoms of the orange
already scattered, fallen?
Meaning: I mean to go and view the land when the rain clears—but have the tachibana blossoms of my old home already fallen?
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1971

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem, meaning to wait for a break in the rain to go view the land, worries that meanwhile the tachibana of the old home will have fallen. The frustration of being shut in by long rains and unable to go, and nostalgia for the flowers of home, show through. "Furusato" may also refer to the old capital of Asuka. Like 1963, it is a poem that imagines a distant scene from amid the rain.

In the first line, "amama akete," "amama" means a break in the rain; the line is hypermetric.
In the second line, "kunimi mo semu o," "kunimi" means viewing the land from a height and "o" is adversative.
The third line, "of the old home," means a place once lived in, or the old capital.
The fourth line, "the flowering tachibana," marks the theme.
In the last line, "chirinikemu ka mo," "kemu" is past conjecture and "ka mo" is exclamatory, closing with worry that they have fallen.
Source: Manyoshu
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