Sumerogi no kami no mikado o kashikomi to samorau toki ni aeru kimi kamo

すめろぎの神の御門を畏みと
さもらふ時に逢へる君かも

Roma-ji: Sumerogi no kami no mikado o kashikomi to samorau toki ni aeru kimi kamo
English Translation: Before the gates divine
of our sovereign, held in awe,
humbly I stood by,
waiting upon the court, when
you were the one I came to meet
Meaning: It was you I met, just when I stood in service at the sacred gates of the sovereign, filled with awe.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2508

Headnote: "Questions and Answers"
The speaker exclaims that, at the very moment of standing in awed service within the palace, it was the beloved who appeared. One senses both the surprise of encountering the loved one at a court full of watching eyes and the frustration of being unable to speak freely.
The headnote "Questions and Answers" names a category that pairs poems posing a question with poems replying to them. This is the first of the question-and-answer poems in the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, and as the left note "the two poems above" indicates, it forms a pair with the next poem. To this poem's question the next replies, how could I say I saw you, when you are my hidden wife; thus a secret love between two people who met at court is drawn in a single exchange.
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, "sumerogi no": the sovereign. Originally meaning the imperial ancestors, it modifies the following "kami no mikado" and expresses reverence for the sovereign as a god.
Second line, "kami no mikado o": the court of the divine sovereign. "Mikado," the palace gate, came by extension to mean the court itself.
Third line, "kashikomi to": "because it is awesome." The stem of the adjective "kashikoshi" takes the suffix "mi," followed by "to," giving the reason for the speaker's reverence.
Fourth line, "samorau toki ni": "while I was in attendance." "Samorau" means to wait upon a noble person, marking the tense setting of court service.
Fifth line, "aeru kimi kamo": "you, whom I met." "Ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri," and the final particle "kamo" expresses wonder at the unexpected meeting.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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