Yūke ni mo ura ni mo noreru koyoi dani kimasanu kimi o itsu to ka matamu

夕占にも占にも告れる今夜だに
来まさぬ君をいつとか待たむ

Roma-ji: Yūke ni mo ura ni mo noreru koyoi dani kimasanu kimi o itsu to ka matamu
English Translation: Evening crossroad signs
and divinations too foretold
this night, yet even
tonight you have not come to me:
when, then, should I wait for you
Meaning: Even tonight, when both the evening crossroads and the divinations said you would come, you have not come. When, then, am I to wait for you?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2613

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Even tonight, when both evening divination and other divination foretold her lover's coming, he has not come; when, then, is she to wait for him? This is a love poem of lament. Because she refers to him respectfully as one who "does not deign to come," it is taken as the poem of a woman awaiting a man's visit. It shows a longing desperate enough to rely on divination, and the dismay of seeing it betrayed.
Like the cords coming undone in poem 2611 and the scratching of the eyebrows in the next poem, 2614, this poem concerns omens and divinations of love. Following the two poems before it, on omens appearing in vain and on unceasing love, this one laments that even divination has proved false.
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, "yūke ni mo": "in the evening divination too." Yūke was divination in which one stood at a crossroads at dusk and judged fortune by the words of passers-by, and it was also used to learn the course of love.
Second line, "ura ni mo noreru": "and announced by divination as well." "Nore" is from the verb "noru," to declare, and "ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri." Two divinations together foretold the lover's coming.
Third line, "koyoi dani": "even tonight." The particle "dani" names a lesser case to imply a greater one: if not even tonight, as the divinations promised, then still less on other nights.
Fourth line, "kimasanu kimi o": "you, who do not come." "Kimasa" is "ku," to come, with the honorific auxiliary verb "masu," and "nu" is the attributive form of the negative auxiliary "zu."
Fifth line, "itsu to ka matamu": "when am I to wait for you?" The particle "ka" is answered by the attributive form of the auxiliary "mu" in a kakari-musubi construction, voicing in a question the grief of a waiting with no end in sight.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Shirotae no sode fureteshi yo waga seko ni aga kouraku wa yamu toki mo nashi
Next Poem: Mayone kaki shita ibukashimi omoeru ni inishiehito o aimitsuru kamo