Shimashiku mo hitori ariuru mono ni are ya shima no muro no ki hanarete aruramu

しましくもひとりありうるものにあれや
島のむろの木離れてあるらむ

Roma-ji: Shimashiku mo hitori ariuru mono ni are ya shima no muro no ki hanarete aruramu
English Translation: For even a while
can anyone bear to live
all alone like this,
that the juniper on the isle
should stand apart by itself
Meaning: Can anyone bear to be alone even for a little while? Then why does the juniper on the island stand apart all by itself?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3601

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"
Continuing from the preceding poem on the juniper of the lone rock, he asks whether anyone could bear to be alone even for a while. In the tree standing apart from its fellows he sees his own loneliness, traveling on alone after parting from his wife. Where the preceding poem saw the long years the tree had lived through, this one turns to its solitude, so that the pair sings of two aspects, long time and a solitary life. The eight poems composed after boarding close with this one.
A left note reads "the above eight poems were composed after boarding the ship and entering the sea route"; the eight poems from 3594 to 3601 were made once the ship had put out to sea. The author is not named.

First line, "shimashiku mo": even for a little while, the briefest span of time.
Second line, "hitori ariuru": "ariu" means to be able to remain as one is: able to be alone.
Third line, "mono ni are ya": "ya" is rhetorical: can it be so? Surely not. The line has six syllables, a hypermetric line, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, "shima no muro no ki": the juniper standing on the lone rock in the preceding poem, 3600.
Fifth line, "hanarete aruramu": "ramu" is an auxiliary conjecturing the cause of a present fact: why does it stand apart, he asks.
Source: Manyoshu
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