Niwa kiyomi oki e kogizuru amabune no kaji toru ma naki koi mo suru kamo

庭清み沖へ漕ぎ出る海人舟の
楫取る間なき恋もするかも

Roma-ji: Niwa kiyomi oki e kogizuru amabune no kaji toru ma naki koi mo suru kamo
English Translation: Because the sea is calm
the fishers' boats row outward,
never resting oars:
with no pause like theirs, such love
is the love I am living
Meaning: Like the fishers' boats rowing out to sea over the calm waters, never pausing at the oar, so I love without a moment's rest.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2746

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
This poem speaks of a love that allows not the least respite. The fishers rowing out onto a calm sea and working their oars without rest are overlaid with a heart in love that never pauses even for a moment.
It is a poem "Expressing Feelings through Things" that speaks through fishing boats, following the reed-parting boat of the preceding poem with another boat as its introduction. Where the preceding poem likened the boat's hampered progress to the obstacles of love, this one likens a boat rowing ceaselessly on a calm sea to love's unbroken flow, making a pair that uses the same boat in contrasting ways.
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, "niwa kiyomi": "because the sea is calm." "Niwa" here means the surface of the sea where fishing is done, and "kiyomi" uses the "-mi" ending to give a reason.
Second line, "oki e kogizuru": "rowing out toward the open sea."
Third line, "amabune no": the fishers' boats. The first three lines form an introductory phrase that, through the unceasing work of the oars, leads to "kaji toru ma naki" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "kaji toru ma naki": "with no pause in working the oars." It carries over the boat scene of the introduction and turns it into words for the ceaselessness of love.
Fifth line, "koi mo suru kamo": "such a love I live." The particle "mo" singles out love, and "kamo" closes the poem with deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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