Yūzukuyo kage tachiyoriai Amanogawa kogu funabito o miru ga tomoshisa

夕月夜影立ち寄り合ひ天の川
漕ぐ船人を見るが羨しさ

Roma-ji: Yūzukuyo kage tachiyoriai Amanogawa kogu funabito o miru ga tomoshisa
English Translation: Under the evening moon
their forms drawing near each other,
across the River of Heaven
I watch the boatman rowing,
and how I envy him
Meaning: In the light of the evening moon, as their forms draw near to one another, how I envy the boatman I watch rowing across the River of Heaven.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3658

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems composed on the Tanabata night, gazing up at the River of Heaven, each expressing his thoughts"
Under the evening moon, watching the Herdsman row across the River of Heaven to his beloved, he sings of his envy. The gulf between the Herdsman, who can go to meet his love, and himself, who cannot meet his wife, is folded into the single word "tomoshisa" (envy). All three Tanabata poems overlay the heavenly love on their own earthly circumstances, and this one closes that feeling as envy. There is no left note, and the author is not named.
According to the headnote, this is one of three poems composed on the night of Tanabata, each expressing his thoughts while gazing up at the River of Heaven. The embassy greeted the seventh day of the seventh month at the Tsukushi lodge, and it was becoming clear that the promise made at departure, to return in autumn, could no longer be kept.

First line, "yūzukuyo": the moon out in the evening, or a night when that moon is out.
Second line, "kage tachiyoriai": "kage" is a form lit by light, understood as the Herdsman and the Weaver Maiden drawing close to one another. The line has eight syllables, hypermetric.
Third line, "Amanogawa": the River of Heaven that separates the Herdsman and the Weaver Maiden.
Fourth line, "kogu funabito o": the boatman rowing across the River of Heaven, the Herdsman going to the Weaver Maiden.
Fifth line, "miru ga tomoshisa": "tomoshi" means envious; ending on the noun formed with "sa," the poem closes in exclamation: how I envy watching him.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Toshi ni arite hitoyo imo ni au hikoboshi mo ware ni masarite omourame ya mo
Next Poem: Akikaze wa hi ni ke ni fukinu wagimoko wa itsu to ka ware o iwai matsuramu