Araora o komu ka koji ka to ii morite kado ni idetachi matedo kimasazu

荒雄らを来むか来じかと飯盛りて
門に出で立ち待てど来まさず

Roma-ji: Araora o komu ka koji ka to ii morite kado ni idetachi matedo kimasazu
English Translation: Will Arao come,
or will he not come home, I wonder;
I heap rice in a bowl
and step out to stand at the gate,
but though I wait, he does not come.
Meaning: Wondering whether Arao will come home or not, I heap rice in a bowl and stand out at the gate waiting, but he does not come.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3861

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten poems on the fisherman of Shika in Chikuzen."
The poem tells how the wife, wondering whether Arao will return, sets out food and stands at the gate waiting, yet he does not come. Her figure, preparing meals day after day in faith that he will come back, is drawn in plain words with piercing grief.
According to the left note, in the Jinki era the Dazaifu appointed Munakatabe no Tsumaro of Munakata District in Chikuzen as helmsman of a ship carrying provisions to Tsushima. Too old to bear the sea, Tsumaro asked Arao, a fisherman of Shika village, to take his place, and Arao, bound by a friendship deeper than brotherhood, gladly agreed. He set sail for Tsushima from Cape Mineraku at Matsura in Hizen, but the sky suddenly darkened, a storm of wind and rain arose, and he sank beneath the sea. Some say his wife and children, unable to bear their longing, made these poems; others that Yamanoue no Okura, Governor of Chikuzen, made them in sympathy with their grief.
The poet, according to one account in the left note, is Yamanoue no Okura, who went to Tang China with an embassy and served as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems on life's hardships and family affection. The poems speak in the voice of Arao's wife and children.

First line, "Araora o," means "for Arao."
Second line, "komu ka koji ka to," means "will he come or not?" Setting komu against koji conveys a heart torn between hope and fear.
Third line, "ii morite," means "heaping a bowl of rice," recalling the custom of setting out meals for those away on a journey.
Fourth line, "kado ni idetachi," means "stepping out to stand at the gate."
Final line, "matedo kimasazu," means "though I wait, he does not come." Poem 3865 ends with the same line, where the waiting of a single day here widens into the waiting of eight years.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ōkimi no tsukawasanaku ni sakashira ni yukishi Araora oki ni sode furu
Next Poem: Shika no yama itaku na kiri so Araora ga yosuka no yama to mitsutsu shinowamu