Tachibana no moto ni wa o tate shizue tori naramu ya kimi to toishi kora wa mo

橘の本に我を立て下枝取り
ならむや君と問ひし子らはも

Roma-ji: Tachibana no moto ni wa o tate shizue tori naramu ya kimi to toishi kora wa mo
English Translation: Beneath the orange tree
at its foot she had me stand,
and taking lower boughs,
"Will it bear fruit, my love?" she asked,
that girl, oh, where is she now?
Meaning: She had me stand beneath the mandarin orange tree, and taking hold of a lower branch she asked, "Will it bear fruit, my love?" Ah, that girl.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2489

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The poem looks back fondly on a memory: under the mandarin orange tree, a girl holding a lower branch asked, "Will it bear fruit?" With the closing "wa mo," it carries a longing for that girl, now thought of from afar.
Speaking through the mandarin orange, it portrays the girl's gesture and words as she asked whether their love would bear fruit. Taking a conversation into the poem itself, it has a narrative quality and is cherished for the vivid scene it calls to mind.
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, "tachibana no": "of the mandarin orange." The tachibana is a citrus tree that blooms with white flowers in early summer and later bears fruit, a favorite subject in the Man'yoshu.
Second line, "moto ni wa o tate": "she had me stand at its foot." The subject is "kora" in the fifth line, showing that the girl led the man beneath the tree.
Third line, "shizue tori": "taking a lower branch," depicting the girl's gesture as she lays her hand on a bough and asks her question.
Fourth line, "naramu ya kimi to": "'Will it bear fruit?' to me, my love." "Naru" refers to the orange bearing fruit, overlaid with the hope that their love will bear fruit. "Ya" is an interrogative binding particle.
Fifth line, "toishi kora wa mo": "that girl who asked, ah." "Shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," expresses recollection, and "wa mo" is an exclamatory particle, closing with longing for a girl no longer at his side.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Iso no ue ni tateru muro no ki nemokoro ni nani shika fukame omoisomekemu
Next Poem: Amakumo ni hane uchitsukete tobu tazu no tazutazushi kamo kimi shi masaneba