Omoi ni shi amari ni shikaba sube o nami idete zo yukishi sono kado o mi ni

思ひにしあまりにしかばすべをなみ
出でてぞ行きしその門を見に

Roma-ji: Omoi ni shi amari ni shikaba sube o nami idete zo yukishi sono kado o mi ni
English Translation: Since my thoughts of you
grew far beyond all measure,
having no way left,
out I went and on I walked,
just to see that gate of yours
Meaning: My longing grew so far beyond all bounds that, with nothing else I could do, I went out of the house: to look at the gate of your home.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2551

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Overwhelmed by longing and with nothing else to do, the speaker went out simply to look at the gate of the beloved's house. Even if they could not meet, the speaker sought comfort in merely seeing the gate of that dwelling, revealing a devoted and touching heart.
The third line, "sube o nami," also appears in poem 2545 of this book, and the next poem ends with "sube no shiranaku." Poems describing a heart driven helpless by love are placed in succession.
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, "omoi ni shi": "my thoughts having grown." The perfective auxiliary "nu" in the form "ni" with the attributive "shi" of the past auxiliary "ki" shows how the feelings piled up.
Second line, "amari ni shikaba": "since they went beyond all bounds." The verb "amaru" with perfective and past auxiliaries and "ba" expresses a definite cause.
Third line, "sube o nami": "since there was no way." The "mi" attached to the stem of an adjective expresses cause or reason, the so-called mi construction.
Fourth line, "idete zo yukishi": "out I went." The particle "zo" is answered by "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," a kakari-musubi construction, and the poem breaks after the fourth line.
Fifth line, "sono kado o mi ni": "to see that gate." Inverted with the fourth line, it states the purpose of going out at the very end, impressing on the reader the poignant wish to see at least the gate.
Source: Manyoshu
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