Yū sareba nobe no akihagi urawakami tsuyu ni zo karuru aki machikate ni

夕されば野辺の秋萩うら若み
露にぞ枯るる秋待ちかてに

Roma-ji: Yū sareba nobe no akihagi urawakami tsuyu ni zo karuru aki machikate ni
English Translation: When the evening comes,
autumn clover in the fields,
being young and frail,
in the dew it withers down,
not able to wait for autumn.
Meaning: When evening comes, the autumn bush clover in the fields, still so young and tender, withers in the dew, unable to wait for autumn's height.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2095

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem grieves that the bush clover of the evening fields, still young and frail, withers in the dew. Pity for a fleeting life is packed into the young bush clover withering without waiting for autumn's height. Like the preceding poem it comes from the Hitomaro Collection; whereas that poem grieved for clover scattered by showers, this one grieves for clover withered by dew.
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, "when evening comes," sets the time.
The second line, "the autumn bush clover of the fields," names the flower.
In the third line, "urawakami," "urawakashi" means young and tender and "mi" marks cause.
In the fourth line, "tsuyu ni zo karuru," "zo" is an emphatic particle in kakari-musubi with the attributive "karuru." The poem breaks here.
In the last line, "aki machikate ni," "kate ni" means unable to: unable to wait for autumn. By inversion the lament comes at the end.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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