Suminoe no kishi no urami ni shiku nami no shikushiku imo o mimu yoshi mogamo

住吉の岸の浦廻にしく波の
しくしく妹を見むよしもがも

Roma-ji: Suminoe no kishi no urami ni shiku nami no shikushiku imo o mimu yoshi mogamo
English Translation: Along Suminoe,
on the curving shore the waves
follow wave on wave:
so again and yet again
would I had the means to see her
Meaning: Like the waves that come one after another to the curving shore of Suminoe, I wish I had some way to see my beloved again and again.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2735

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the waves that come one upon another to the curving shore of Suminoe, the speaker wishes there were some way to meet the beloved again and again. The image of endlessly arriving waves is laid over the urgency of the wish to meet.
As a poem expressing feelings through things, it speaks through the waves at the bay of Suminoe. The device of leading from "shiku nami no" to "shikushiku" through repeated sound binds together the layering of the waves and the wish to layer meeting upon meeting. From the laments of the preceding poems, which wished to become something other than human, this poem turns to the wish to meet.
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": "of Suminoe," read "Suminoe" and referring to the shore around present-day Sumiyoshi Ward in Osaka.
Second line, "kishi no urami ni": "along the curving shore of the bank."
Third line, "shiku nami no": "of the waves that come one upon another." The lines up to here form a preface, repeating the sound "shiku" to lead into "shikushiku."
Fourth line, "shikushiku imo o": "again and again, my beloved." "Shikushiku" means repeatedly and without pause, and "imo" is the affectionate word a man uses for his love.
Fifth line, "mimu yoshi mogamo": "would I had the means to see her." "Miru" means to meet, "yoshi" means a means, and "mogamo" is a final particle of wishing, closing on an earnest desire.
Source: Manyoshu
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