Aki saraba waga fune hatemu wasuregai yosekite okere okitsu shiranami

秋さらば我が船泊てむ忘れ貝
寄せ来て置けれ沖つ白波

Roma-ji: Aki saraba waga fune hatemu wasuregai yosekite okere okitsu shiranami
English Translation: When autumn comes
my ship will put in here;
the shells of forgetting
bring them in and leave them for me,
white waves of the offing
Meaning: When autumn comes my ship will anchor here on the way home; until then, white waves of the offing, carry in the shells of forgetting and leave them on the shore for me.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3629

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem expressing feelings through things, with tanka"
Since on the way home in autumn his ship will put in here, he calls on the white waves of the offing to wash shells of forgetting onto the beach before then. A "wasuregai" was a shell believed, once picked up, to make one forget the pain of love, and the poem holds his wish to heal a heart suffering from longing for his wife. The motif of seeking shells of forgetting also appears as "koi wasuregai" in 3711 of this book, made at Takashiki Bay in Tsushima. The opening "aki saraba" rests, like 3581 at the departure, on the planned return in autumn.
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, "aki saraba": when autumn comes, resting on the plan to return home in autumn.
Second line, "waga fune hatemu": "hatsu" means a ship coming into port and anchoring, and "mu" is conjecture: my ship will anchor here on the way back. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "wasuregai": a single valve of a bivalve shell or the like, believed to make one forget the pain of love when picked up.
Fourth line, "yosekite okere": he commands the white waves to wash the shells onto the beach and leave them there.
Fifth line, "okitsu shiranami": an address to the white waves of the offing, inverted with the fourth line; the poem closes on a noun.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Tama no ura no okitsu shiratama hiroeredo mata zo okitsuru miru hito o nami
Next Poem: Makaji nuki fune shi yukazu wa miredo akanu Marifu no ura ni yadori semashi o