Suminoe no tsumori abiki no uke no o no ukare ka yukamu koitsutsu arazu wa

住吉の津守網引のうけの緒の
浮かれか行かむ恋ひつつあらずは

Roma-ji: Suminoe no tsumori abiki no uke no o no ukare ka yukamu koitsutsu arazu wa
English Translation: Like the float's cord
on the nets the harbor guards
haul at Suminoe,
shall I drift off aimlessly
rather than go on in love
Meaning: Like the cord of the float on the nets hauled by the harbor guards of Suminoe, shall I drift away and wander off, rather than go on longing like this?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2646

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the cord of a float on the nets hauled at Suminoe drifts upon the waves, the speaker wonders whether to let the heart wander off and leave home altogether rather than go on longing. Through a fishing implement on the shore, the poem expresses a heart that can no longer bear love and has lost its place.
The first three lines are a preface in which "uke," the float, leads by sound to "ukare," to drift. Following the forest workers of the preceding poem, this poem turns to people hauling nets by the sea, so that labor on the mountains and labor on the shore stand side by side.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "suminoe no": Suminoe in Settsu Province, the area of present-day Sumiyoshi Ward in Osaka. In the Man'yoshu it is read "Suminoe" and known as a harbor.
Second line, "tsumori abiki no": "the harbor guards hauling nets." "Abiki" means fishing by drawing in nets.
Third line, "uke no o no": "the cord of the float." These lines form a preface, and the sound of "uke" leads to "ukare" in the next line.
Fourth line, "ukare ka yukamu": "shall I drift away and go?" The binding particle "ka" poses a question, and the conjectural "mu" that concludes it takes the attributive form.
Fifth line, "koitsutsu arazu wa": "rather than keep on longing." "Zu wa" means "rather than," and the line stands in inverted order with the fourth.
Source: Manyoshu
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