Aoniyoshi Nara no miyako ni tanabikeru ama no shirakumo miredo akanu kamo

あをによし奈良の都にたなびける
天の白雲見れど飽かぬかも

Roma-ji: Aoniyoshi Nara no miyako ni tanabikeru ama no shirakumo miredo akanu kamo
English Translation: Over Nara, the capital
rich in green earth,
the white clouds of heaven
trail across the sky;
I never tire of gazing
Meaning: The white clouds of heaven that trail over Nara, the capital, I could gaze upon forever and never tire.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3602

Headnote: "Old poems recited to suit the place"
The poem praises the white clouds trailing in the sky over Nara, the capital, saying one could never tire of gazing at them. A left note reads "the above poem sings of clouds," identifying it as an old poem on clouds. By reciting it on the journey, the travelers are thought to have entrusted to it their longing for the receding capital, and it echoes 3613 and 3618 later in this book, which state their homesickness directly: "Nara no miyako wa wasurekanetsu mo."
According to the headnote, 3602 to 3610 of this book are old poems the travelers recited along the way as suited to the place. Poems not of their own making were thus taken into the travel sequence, showing how people of the time shared old poems and adapted them to the occasion.

First line, "aoniyoshi": a pillow word for "Nara," said by some to derive from the blue-green earth used as pigment that was dug on Mount Nara.
Second line, "Nara no miyako ni": the Heijō capital, which the embassy had left behind.
Third line, "tanabikeru": "tanabiku" means clouds or haze trailing out horizontally; "ru" is the attributive of the continuative "ri": trailing there.
Fourth line, "ama no shirakumo": white clouds floating in the sky, seen as gently adorning the sky over the capital.
Fifth line, "miredo akanu kamo": however much I look I do not tire; a stock closing phrase of the Man'yōshū in praise of lands and scenes, with exclamatory "kamo."
Source: Manyoshu
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