Masakiku to iiteshi mono o shirakumo ni tachitanabiku to kikeba kanashi mo

ま幸くと言ひてしものを白雲に
立ちたなびくと聞けば悲しも

Roma-ji: Masakiku to iiteshi mono o shirakumo ni tachitanabiku to kikeba kanashi mo
English Translation: "Fare well, keep safe," we said
to each other when we parted,
yet as a white cloud
you rise and trail across the sky,
so I hear, and oh, the grief
Meaning: We promised each other to stay safe and well, and now I hear you have risen and drift away as a white cloud—how sad it is.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3958

Headnote: "Envoy to a poem, with tanka, lamenting my younger brother who has passed away for ever"
They promised each other safety, yet now he hears his brother drifts as a white cloud—a poem lamenting his brother's death. This is an envoy to the chōka Yakamochi composed in Etchū on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month of 746, on hearing from afar that his younger brother Fumimochi had died in the capital. The chōka tells how his brother saw him off as far as the riverbank of the Izumi when he went down to Etchū, where they parted saying "I shall return safe and sound," and how he was told that his brother, a lover of flowers and plants, had been cremated on Mount Saho and his smoke had trailed away as white clouds. Setting the words of parting against the news of cremation, it distills the grief of losing a brother who had pledged to meet again.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "The above was composed on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, autumn, of the eighteenth year of Tenpyō, by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, Governor of Etchū, grieving on hearing from afar of his younger brother's death."

First line, "masakiku to": ma is a prefix and sakiku means safe and well. Taking up "I shall return safe and sound" from the chōka, it recalls the words exchanged at parting.
Second line, "iiteshi mono o": "though we said so," mono o expressing adversative lament.
Third line, "shirakumo ni": "as a white cloud," the smoke of cremation becoming cloud.
Fourth line, "tachitanabiku to": taken directly from the close of the chōka, "they told me he had risen and trailed as a white cloud."
Fifth line, "kikeba kanashi mo": "how sad it is to hear," mo being exclamatory. It closes on the grief of one who can only hear the news from afar.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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