Idetatamu chikara o nami to komori ite kimi ni kouru ni kokorodo mo nashi

出で立たむ力をなみと隠り居て
君に恋ふるに心どもなし

Roma-ji: Idetatamu chikara o nami to komori ite kimi ni kouru ni kokorodo mo nashi
English Translation: Lacking the strength
to rise and venture outside,
I keep to my house,
and as I long for you, my friend,
my heart has lost all its spirit
Meaning: Without the strength to go out, I stay shut up indoors, and longing for you, I feel my spirit drain away.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3972

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy to a further poem, with tanka, sent to you." Before the chōka stands a letter in Chinese beginning "Your all-embracing virtue has bestowed grace upon my lowly self, and your priceless thoughts have consoled my humble heart"
Lacking the strength to go out, he stays indoors and, longing for his friend, loses all heart—a poem of the forlornness of illness. This is an envoy to the chōka that Yakamochi, still not recovered, sent on the third day of the third month of 747 in reply to Ikenushi's consoling poems. In the letter he modestly says that as a child he never frequented the courts of the arts and in youth never studied at "the gate of Yama and Kaki," so he lacks words for making poems. This "Yama and Kaki" is taken to mean Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and Yamabe no Akahito (or, by another view, Yamanoue no Okura), an early example of reverence for poets of the past. The chōka laments that he let the season pass without picking flowers with his friend in their prime or hearing the warbler, and says that, moved by the kindness of Ikenushi's thoughts of him, he lies awake all night longing. Closing the three envoys, it sums up his grief at being unable to go out and meet Ikenushi.
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, "Third day of the third month, Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "idetatamu": "to set out."
Second line, "chikara o nami to": "since I lack the strength," a mi-construction expressing the weakness of the sick body like "tajikara mo gamo" in 3965.
Third line, "komori ite": "staying shut indoors," the same words as "komori ite omoi nagekai" in the chōka.
Fourth line, "kimi ni kouru ni": "as I long for you."
Fifth line, "kokorodo mo nashi": kokorodo is firmness of heart, spirit—"my spirit is gone."
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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