Ishibashi no mama ni oitaru kaobana no hana ni shi arikeri aritsutsu mireba

石橋の間々に生ひたるかほ花の
花にしありけりありつつ見れば

Roma-ji: Ishibashi no mama ni oitaru kaobana no hana ni shi arikeri aritsutsu mireba
English Translation: At the stepping-stones,
growing in between each one,
like the kaobana—
a mere flower, fleeting, frail,
I found it, watching all the while.
Meaning: Like the kaobana growing between the stepping stones, you were only a passing flower—so I realize, having watched you all this while.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Love Poems 2288

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through Flowers"
This poem says that, like the kaobana growing between the stepping stones, the beloved's heart turned out to be as changeable as a flower, as the speaker realized after watching for so long. "Hana ni shi arikeri" is thought to carry the lament that it was insubstantial and fleeting. Disappointment in someone long watched over shows in a quiet exclamation.

In the first line, "ishibashi no," "ishibashi" means stepping stones in a river.
The second line, "growing between each," names the place.
In the third line, "kaobana no," the kaobana is a flower some identify as bindweed; the upper lines form a preface leading into "hana."
In the fourth line, "hana ni shi arikeri," "hana" means something fleeting and insubstantial, "shi" is emphatic, and "keri" expresses realization. The poem breaks here.
The last line, "as I kept on watching," gives by inversion how the speaker came to realize it.
Source: Manyoshu
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