Waga seko ga hama yuku kaze no iya haya ni koto o hayami ka iya awazu aramu

我が背子が浜行く風のいや早に
言を早みかいや逢はずあらむ

Roma-ji: Waga seko ga hama yuku kaze no iya haya ni koto o hayami ka iya awazu aramu
English Translation: Like the wind that sweeps
the beach my dear love goes by,
ever swift and fast,
is it that the talk runs fast
that we meet less than before?
Meaning: Like the wind sweeping the beach where my love walks, ever swifter: is it because the gossip spreads so fast that we will meet less and less?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2459

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the wind sweeping the beach blows ever swifter, the speaker, a woman, wonders whether her lover will meet her less and less because the gossip runs so fast: a love poem of lament. Her anxiety over a lover kept away for fear of rumor is entrusted to the swift wind on the shore.
Following the preceding poem on frost, this one speaks through wind. The lively rhythm of repeating both "haya" (swift) and "iya" (ever more) twice carries the speed with which rumor spreads and her agitation at a lover drifting away.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "waga seko ga": "my husband," "my love"; "seko" is a word women use for men, showing this is a woman's poem. It continues into the next line: the beach where he goes.
Second line, "hama yuku kaze no": "like the wind blowing along the beach." The first two lines form a preface, the speed of the wind leading to "iya haya ni" in the third line.
Third line, "iya haya ni": "ever more swiftly." "Iya" means more and more, and the word "haya" is repeated in "hayami" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "koto o hayami ka": "is it because the talk is so swift?" "O" with "mi" expresses cause, and the binding particle "ka" poses a question, forming kakari-musubi with "aramu" in the last line.
Fifth line, "iya awazu aramu": "will we go on not meeting, ever more?" "Iya" is repeated as in the third line, and taking up the "ka" of the fourth line, the conjectural "mu" closes in the attributive form.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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