Asekagata shiohi no yuta ni omoeraba ukera ga hana no iro ni deme ya mo

安齊可潟潮干のゆたに思へらば
うけらが花の色に出めやも

Roma-ji: Asekagata shiohi no yuta ni omoeraba ukera ga hana no iro ni deme ya mo
English Translation: At Asekagata,
like the ebb tide, calm and wide,
if I felt at ease,
like the ukera flower,
would my love show in my face?
Meaning: If I could feel as easy as the wide ebb-tide flats of Asekagata, would my love show in my face like the ukera flower? No.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3503

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
If the singer could feel as calm as the ebb-tide flats of Asekagata, love would not show in the face like the ukera flower. Through rhetorical inversion, the poem shows the force of a love that cannot be kept from showing.
It is one of the love exchanges. Asekagata is a tideflat of unknown location. Like 3376 and 3379 from Musashi it sings of the ukera flower, and like "iro ni zu na yume" in 3376 it sings of love showing in one's face.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "asekagata": A tideflat of unknown location.
Second line, "shiohi no yuta ni": "Yuta ni" means at ease, drawing on the broad flats at low tide. The first two lines form a preface.
Third line, "omoeraba": "Raba" is suppositional: if I felt so.
Fourth line, "ukera ga hana no": The same line as in 3376 and 3379, the ukera flower of Musashino.
Final line, "iro ni deme ya mo": "Me ya mo" is rhetorical: would it show in my face? No.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Waga mezuma hito wa sakuredo asagao no toshi sae kogoto wa wa sakaru gae
Next Poem: Harue saku fuji no uraba no urayasu ni sanuru yo zo naki koro o shi moeba