Tama shikeru kiyoki nagisa o shio miteba akazu ware yuku kaerusa ni mimu

玉敷ける清き渚を潮満てば
飽かず我れ行く帰るさに見む

Roma-ji: Tama shikeru kiyoki nagisa o shio miteba akazu ware yuku kaerusa ni mimu
English Translation: The clear shore
as if paved with jewels,
as the tide comes in
unsatisfied I leave it;
on my way home I will see it
Meaning: As the tide comes in over the clean shore that seems strewn with jewels, I must leave it before I have seen my fill; on my way home I will see it again.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3706

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings"
He sings that as the tide rises over the clean shore that seems strewn with jewels, he must leave it reluctantly, and will see it again on his way home. Praising the beauty of Takashiki Bay by likening it to jewels, he pledges to return on the way back. The wish to see it again on the way home sounds poignant when one recalls that the ambassador himself died on Tsushima on that return journey. A left note reads "the above poem is by the ambassador."
The author, Abe no Tsugumaro, was the ambassador of the embassy to Silla, appointed in the eighth year of Tenpyō. On the way home from Silla, he died on Tsushima in the following, ninth year of Tenpyō.
According to the headnote, this is one of eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings. Takashiki Bay lies within Asō Bay in Tsushima, thought to be present-day Takeshiki in Mitsushima, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The first half of the sequence ranges poems by the ambassador, vice-ambassador, senior and junior secretaries, and a young woman of Tsushima, and is thought to have been composed at a banquet.

First line, "tama shikeru": "ru" is the attributive of the continuative "ri": as if strewn with jewels, praising a shore lined with beautiful pebbles.
Second line, "kiyoki nagisa o": the clean water's edge.
Third line, "shio miteba": since the tide is coming in, a definite condition with the realis plus "ba."
Fourth line, "akazu ware yuku": "akazu" means unsatisfied, with lingering regret: I go away. The poem breaks after the fourth line.
Fifth line, "kaerusa ni mimu": "kaerusa" is the time of return and "mu" intention: I will see it on my way home, the poem ends.
Author: Abe no Tsugumaro
Source: Manyoshu
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