Aonero ni tanabiku kumo no isayoi ni mono o zo omou toshi no kono koro

青嶺ろにたなびく雲のいさよひに
物をぞ思ふ年のこのころ

Roma-ji: Aonero ni tanabiku kumo no isayoi ni mono o zo omou toshi no kono koro
English Translation: On the green-clad peaks
how the trailing clouds hang still,
wavering, unsure:
so I brood in heavy thoughts
in these days, these months, this year.
Meaning: Like the clouds that trail and linger over the green peaks, I wander in troubled thought these days of the year.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3511

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like clouds lingering motionless over the green peaks, the singer passes the days in uncertain brooding. The hovering of clouds on the mountain merges with a wavering heart.
It is one of the love exchanges and the second in the cloud sequence. The next poem also uses "aonero ni" and "isayou kumo," so the two form a pair.
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, "aonero ni": "Aonero" is a green peak, with the eastern suffix "ro." The same word appears in the third line of the next poem.
Second line, "tanabiku kumo no": Trailing clouds, continuing from "the clouds that cross the sky" in the preceding poem.
Third line, "isayoi ni": "Isayoi" is hesitating, lingering without moving on; the first three lines form a preface.
Fourth line, "mono o zo omou": "Zo" is a binding particle answered by the attributive "omou."
Final line, "toshi no kono koro": "These days of the year," ending on a noun.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Misora yuku kumo ni mogamo na kyō yukite imo ni kotodoi asu kaerikomu
Next Poem: Hitonero ni iwaru monokara aonero ni isayou kumo no yosorizuma wa mo