Ōbune ni imo noru mono ni aramaseba hagukumi mochite yukamashi mono o

大船に妹乗るものにあらませば
羽ぐくみ持ちて行かましものを

Roma-ji: Ōbune ni imo noru mono ni aramaseba hagukumi mochite yukamashi mono o
English Translation: If on the great ship
it were allowed
for my love to ride,
I would hold you sheltered close
and take you along with me
Meaning: If only a wife were allowed to board the great ship, I would hold you close, sheltered as under wings, and take you with me.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3579

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The envoys sent to Silla grieve at parting and exchange poems, express their sorrowful feelings on the sea route, and recite old poems suited to the places they pass"
Here the husband answers his wife's preceding poem. He comforts her by voicing an impossible wish: if only he could take her aboard, he would carry her along, sheltered as under wings. By taking up her own word, "hagukumoru," and returning it, he shows the meeting of hearts proper to an exchange of poems.
The first half of this book gathers the poems of the embassy sent to Silla in the eighth year of Tenpyō (736), arranged in the order of the journey from the departure at Naniwa to the return. A left note reads "the above eleven poems are an exchange," and these opening eleven poems are the parting exchanges between the envoys and their wives before departure. None of the authors is named.

First line, "ōbune ni": the great official ship carrying the embassy to Silla.
Second line, "imo noru mono ni": "imo" is his wife. Wives were not permitted to sail aboard the embassy's ships.
Third line, "aramaseba": "mase" is the irrealis form of the counterfactual auxiliary "mashi," answering "yukamashi" in the last line: if only it were allowed.
Fourth line, "hagukumi mochite": this takes up "hagukumoru" from the preceding poem, 3578, meaning to hold her close as a parent bird holds its young.
Fifth line, "yukamashi mono o": "mashi" is counterfactual and "mono o" an exclamation with an adversative turn, ending with regret at the reality that he cannot take her.
Source: Manyoshu
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