Misago iru su ni iru fune no yūshio o matsuramu yori wa ware koso masare

みさご居る洲に居る舟の夕潮を
待つらむよりは我れこそまされ

Roma-ji: Misago iru su ni iru fune no yūshio o matsuramu yori wa ware koso masare
English Translation: Where the ospreys stay,
a boat that stays upon the sandbar
for the evening tide
may be waiting, yet surpassing it
is the waiting that is mine
Meaning: The boat stranded on the sandbar where the ospreys stay must be waiting for the evening tide, but my own waiting surpasses even that.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2831

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Metaphorical Poems"
A boat stranded on a sandbar must long for the evening tide, but the speaker's waiting for the beloved surpasses even that. The boat that cannot move until the tide comes in mirrors the frustration of one who can do nothing but wait for a lover's visit.
By the left note "the one poem above expresses feelings through a boat," this poem uses a boat as its figure. Following the bow of the preceding poem, it borrows a waterside scene with a boat to sing of the ache of waiting love.
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, "misago iru": "where ospreys stay." The osprey lives by the water and catches fish, and the line sketches the lonely scene of a deserted sandbar.
Second line, "su ni iru fune no": "of the boat that stays on the sandbar." Repeating the "iru" of the first line sets the rhythm and shows a boat unable to move.
Third line, "yūshio o": "the evening tide," the rising tide the boat awaits in order to float and move again.
Fourth line, "matsuramu yori wa": "more than it must be waiting." "Ramu" conjectures about something not before one's eyes, imagining the boat's feelings while comparing them with one's own.
Fifth line, "ware koso masare": "mine surpasses it." The particle "koso" is answered by the perfective form "masare," a kakari-musubi construction that declares the strength of the speaker's waiting.
Source: Manyoshu
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