Ta zo kare to towaba kotaemu sube o nami kimi ga tsukai o kaeshi yaritsu mo

誰ぞかれと問はば答へむすべをなみ
君が使を帰しやりつも

Roma-ji: Ta zo kare to towaba kotaemu sube o nami kimi ga tsukai o kaeshi yaritsu mo
English Translation: "Who is that out there?"
Should they ask, I would have no
way at all to answer,
so the messenger you sent
I have sent back on his way
Meaning: Having no way to answer should they ask, "Who is that out there?", I sent your messenger back.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2545

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Her lover's messenger has come, but having no way to answer if her household should ask "Who is that?", she sent him back, and now regrets it: this is a woman's love poem. It states frankly the frustration of a daughter's love conducted in fear of her household's eyes, above all her mother's, and the lingering regret after sending the messenger away.
The first line's "ta zo" echoes "tare zo kono" in the first line of poem 2527, and the two correspond as well in portraying love hidden from watchful eyes at home. The fourth line, "kimi ga tsukai o," is the same as the fourth line of poem 2543, so that beside a poem of waiting in vain for a messenger stands one of sending a messenger back.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "ta zo kare to": "'who is that?'" "Kare" points to a distant person or thing; the line imagines someone of the household catching sight and asking.
Second line, "towaba kotaemu": "if asked, how I would answer." "Ba" after the irrealis forms a hypothetical, and "mu" in its attributive form modifies "means" in the third line.
Third line, "sube o nami": "since I had no means." The construction "o ... mi" expresses a cause or reason.
Fourth line, "kimi ga tsukai o": "your messenger."
Fifth line, "kaeshi yaritsu mo": "I have sent him back." "Tsu" is perfective and "mo" exclamatory, closing the poem with a note of regret.
Source: Manyoshu
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