Hikoboshi wa nagekasu tsuma ni koto dani mo tsuge ni zo kitsuru mireba kurushimi

彦星は嘆かす妻に言だにも
告げにぞ来つる見れば苦しみ

Roma-ji: Hikoboshi wa nagekasu tsuma ni koto dani mo tsuge ni zo kitsuru mireba kurushimi
English Translation: The Herdsman Star has,
to his wife in her lament,
if only in words,
come to tell her of his love—
seeing her, it was so hard.
Meaning: The Herdsman Star has come to his grieving wife to bring her at least a word, for it pained him so to see her.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2006

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem tells how the Herdsman, finding it painful to see the Weaver grieving, came to bring her at least a word. From a third person's position, it depicts the Herdsman's tenderness toward his wife. It reads as if answering 1998, in which the Weaver wished that at least a word be sent, so the two correspond in the arrangement.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet of the Asuka period, active under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note records that this poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, and it is uncertain whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a poem by someone else that he recorded.

The first line, "the Herdsman Star," is the subject.
In the second line, "nagekasu tsuma ni," "su" is honorific: to his grieving wife.
In the third line, "koto dani mo," "dani" means at least; it answers "koto mo tsuganamu" in 1998.
In the fourth line, "tsuge ni zo kitsuru," "zo" is an emphatic particle in kakari-musubi with the attributive "tsuru." The poem breaks here.
In the last line, "mireba kurushimi," "mi" is a suffix of cause: because it was painful to see. By inversion it gives the reason for coming.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ametsuchi to wakareshi toki yu ono ga tsuma shika zo toshi ni aru aki matsu ware wa
Next Poem: Hisakata no amatsu shirushi to minashigawa hedatete okishi kamiyo shi urameshi