Minato ni sanebau kosuge nusumawazu kimi ni koi tsutsu arikatenu kamo

港にさ根延ふ小菅ぬすまはず
君に恋ひつつありかてぬかも

Roma-ji: Minato ni sanebau kosuge nusumawazu kimi ni koi tsutsu arikatenu kamo
English Translation: At the harbor mouth
the little sedge spreads its roots;
not hiding in stealth,
I go on longing for you,
and cannot bear to be still
Meaning: Like the little sedge spreading its roots firmly at the harbor mouth, I do not hide my love from others' eyes; longing for you without end, I cannot bear to stay still.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2470

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Unable to hide from others' eyes, longing for the beloved without end and unable to remain still, the speaker gives voice to a love beyond restraint. The poem sets this unconcealable feeling upon the little sedge that spreads its roots by the water and grows in plain view.
This is one of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," a love poem set upon sedge. From here through poem 2477 of this book, poems on sedge follow one after another: the little sedge, the rock sedge, the sedge root, and the mountain sedge. Where the preceding poem spoke of the jisa drooping with dew, this one speaks of sedge spreading its roots, and in setting love upon a waterside plant it also echoes poem 2468.
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, "minato ni": "at the harbor mouth," where waters flow in and out. It is a short line of only four syllables.
Second line, "sanebau kosuge": sedge that firmly spreads its roots. "Sa" and "ko" are both prefixes. The first two lines form a preface, thought to lead from the sedge growing openly with spread roots into the following "nusumawazu," though how the link works is debated.
Third line, "nusumawazu": "not stealing away from others' eyes." "Nusumau" is a verb meaning to hide from view, and "zu" is the negative auxiliary.
Fourth line, "kimi ni koi tsutsu": "longing for you continually." "Tsutsu" is a particle expressing continued action.
Fifth line, "arikatenu kamo": "I cannot bear to stay as I am." "Kate" is from "katsu," to be able to endure, "nu" is the attributive form of the negative auxiliary "zu," and "kamo" adds a note of exclamation.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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