Hisakata no ama tobu kumo ni arite shika kimi o ba aimimu otsuru hi nashi ni

ひさかたの天飛ぶ雲にありてしか
君をば相見むおつる日なしに

Roma-ji: Hisakata no ama tobu kumo ni arite shika kimi o ba aimimu otsuru hi nashi ni
English Translation: If only I were
a cloud that flies through the sky
of the far heavens,
I would come to meet with you,
never missing a single day
Meaning: If only I were a cloud flying through the vast sky! Then I would meet you without missing a single day.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2676

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Were the speaker a cloud flying freely through the sky, it would be possible to visit the beloved every single day. The poem expresses the constraint of not being able to come and go at will through a longing for the drifting clouds.
This is one of the poems on clouds. Whereas the two preceding poems sing of love while watching clouds on a mountain, here the speaker wishes to become a cloud, shifting from one who watches clouds to one who would be a cloud.
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, "hisakata no": a pillow word attached to "heaven," evoking the vast expanse of the sky.
Second line, "ama tobu kumo ni": "a cloud flying through the heavens." It shows the freedom of clouds that can go anywhere.
Third line, "arite shika": "if only I were." The wish-expressing particle "teshika" ends a clause here.
Fourth line, "kimi o ba aimimu": "I would meet you." "O ba" strengthens the particle "o" with "wa," and the volitional "mu" states what would follow if the wish came true.
Fifth line, "otsuru hi nashi ni": "with no day missed." "Otsu" means to drop out, expressing the wish to meet every single day.
Source: Manyoshu
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