Hanaguwashi ashikaki goshi ni tada hitome aimishi ko yue chitabi nagekitsu

花ぐはし葦垣越しにただ一目
相見し子ゆゑ千たび嘆きつ

Roma-ji: Hanaguwashi ashikaki goshi ni tada hitome aimishi ko yue chitabi nagekitsu
English Translation: Lovely in its bloom,
over the fence of reeds,
only a single glance
I caught of her, yet for her
a thousand times I've sighed
Meaning: For a girl I glimpsed just once, over a fence of reeds, I have sighed a thousand times.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2565

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
For a girl glimpsed only once over a reed fence, the speaker has sighed a thousand times. The poem shows the heart of a man captivated by someone glimpsed through a fence, who has been unable to meet her again and is tormented by longing.
Setting "tada hitome," just one glance, against "chitabi," a thousand times, the poem uses the contrast of numbers to show how a fleeting encounter gave rise to endless sighs. Catching sight of a woman through a fence was one way love began in ancient times, and this poem sings of the pain of love born from that single moment.
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, "hanaguwashi": meaning "lovely in bloom," a pillow word attached to "ashi," reeds.
Second line, "ashikaki goshi ni": "over a fence of reeds," showing that he saw her across a fence.
Third line, "tada hitome": "just a single glance," set against "chitabi" in the last line.
Fourth line, "aimishi ko yue": "because of the girl I saw." "Ko" is an affectionate word for a young woman, and "yue" expresses cause or reason.
Fifth line, "chitabi nagekitsu": "I have sighed a thousand times." The perfective auxiliary "tsu" closes the statement, and the contrast with "tada hitome" in the third line stresses the depth of the sighing.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Nubatama no imo ga kurokami koyoi mo ka a ga naki toko ni nabikete nuramu
Next Poem: Iro ni idete koiba hito mite shirinu beshi kokoro no uchi no komorizuma wa mo