Tama no ura no okitsu shiratama hiroeredo mata zo okitsuru miru hito o nami

玉の浦の沖つ白玉拾へれど
またぞ置きつる見る人をなみ

Roma-ji: Tama no ura no okitsu shiratama hiroeredo mata zo okitsuru miru hito o nami
English Translation: In the Bay of Tama
the white pearls of the offing
though I gathered them,
I have laid them down again,
for there is no one to see
Meaning: Though I gathered the white pearls of the offing in Tama Bay, I laid them down again, for there is no one here to see them.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3628

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem expressing feelings through things, with tanka"
He gathered the white pearls of the offing at Tama Bay, but, having no one to show them to, laid them down again. Restating briefly the close of the chōka, it voices the loneliness of holding beautiful gems with no wife to share his joy. In 3614 of this book, composed at Nagai Bay, he resolved to gather white pearls to show his wife on his return, so that hope and disappointment form a pair around the same "okitsu shiratama."
According to the headnote, this is one of two envoys attached to 3627 of this book, a chōka expressing feelings through things. The chōka traces the voyage from Mitsu at Naniwa to Tama Bay, and ends by saying that, though he gathered gems at Tama Bay to send his wife, he put them back for want of a messenger. The author is not named.

First line, "Tama no ura no": Tama Bay in Bitchū Province, also sung in 3598 of this book. Gathering white pearls at a bay named "Tama" (gem) makes a fitting pairing.
Second line, "okitsu shiratama": beautiful white gems of the offing, pearls, the same words as the fourth line of 3614 of this book.
Third line, "hiroeredo": "hirifu" means to pick up; "re" is the realis of the continuative "ri": though I gathered them.
Fourth line, "mata zo okitsuru": "zo" is a binding particle resolved by the attributive "tsuru" (kakarimusubi): I laid them back again. The poem breaks after the fourth line.
Fifth line, "miru hito o nami": "o ... mi" expresses a cause: since there is no one to see them. It is inverted with the fourth line, revealing the reason at the end.
Source: Manyoshu
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