Tabi ni aredo yoru wa hi tomoshi oru ware o yami ni ya imo ga koitsutsu aruramu

旅にあれど夜は火灯し居る我れを
闇にや妹が恋ひつつあるらむ

Roma-ji: Tabi ni aredo yoru wa hi tomoshi oru ware o yami ni ya imo ga koitsutsu aruramu
English Translation: Though on a journey
at night I sit with a fire
burning beside me,
while my love, perhaps, in darkness
lies longing for me
Meaning: Though I am traveling, at night I sit by a lighted fire; but my wife, I wonder, is she longing for me there in the dark?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3669

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Arriving at Karadomari in Shima District, Chikuzen Province, the ship lay at anchor for three days. The light of the night moon shone bright and flowing. Facing this splendor, our traveling hearts were choked with sorrow, and each expressed his feelings in six poems"
He reflects that while he, though traveling, sits at night by a lighted fire, his wife at home may be longing for him in the dark. The contrast of light and dark, himself with a lamp and his wife in darkness, heightens the loneliness of the wife left behind. On a night at Karadomari flooded with moonlight, it expresses a heart thinking of the darkness of a distant home. A left note reads "the above poem is by the senior secretary."
The author, Mibu no Udamaro, was an official who served as senior secretary (daihangan) of the embassy to Silla; he is also written Mibu no Omi Udamaro.
According to the headnote, this is one of six poems composed while the ship lay at anchor for three days at Karadomari in Shima District, Chikuzen Province, when the night moon shone bright and the travelers, facing its beauty, were choked with traveling sorrow and each expressed his feelings. Karadomari is thought to be near Miyaura in present-day Nishi Ward, Fukuoka, a harbor before leaving Tsukushi for the open sea.

First line, "tabi ni aredo": though I am on a journey.
Second line, "yoru wa hi tomoshi": at night lighting a fire, his own figure under a lamp even while traveling.
Third line, "oru ware o": "o" carries an adversative sense: though I sit with a fire burning.
Fourth line, "yami ni ya imo ga": "ya" is an interrogative binding particle resolved by the attributive "ramu": is my wife, in the dark?
Fifth line, "koitsutsu aruramu": "ramu" conjectures a present matter out of sight: is she going on longing for me, the poem ends. An eight-syllable hypermetric line.
Author: Mibu no Udamaro
Source: Manyoshu
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