Waga seko wa tama ni mo gamo na te ni makite mitsutsu yukamu o okite ikaba oshi

我が背子は玉にもがもな手に巻きて
見つつ行かむを置きて行かば惜し

Roma-ji: Waga seko wa tama ni mo gamo na te ni makite mitsutsu yukamu o okite ikaba oshi
English Translation: If only you, friend,
were a jewel, so that I
might wind you round my wrist
and gaze on you as I go—
it grieves me to leave you here
Meaning: If only you were a jewel, my friend! Then I could wind you around my wrist and gaze at you as I travel—how it pains me to leave you behind.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3990

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems from a farewell banquet for Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi at the residence of Senior Clerk Hata no Imiki Yachishima"
If his friend were a jewel, he could wear him on his wrist and gaze at him on the journey; it is a pity to leave him behind—a poem regretting parting. This is one of two poems in which Yakamochi expressed the sorrow of parting at a farewell banquet held on the twentieth day of the fourth month of 747 at the residence of the Senior Clerk Hata no Yachishima, as Yakamochi was about to go up to the capital as envoy bearing the tax register. Likening a dear friend to a jewel worn on the body, it frankly expresses his reluctance to part.
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, "Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi was to go to the capital with the tax register; so he composed these poems to express a little of the sorrow of parting (twentieth day of the fourth month)."

First line, "waga seko wa": an address to a dear male friend, meaning the host and colleagues.
Second line, "tama ni mo gamo na": mogamo na expresses a wish—"if only you were a jewel." The poem pauses here. Poem 4007 of this book opens with the same two lines, and Ikenushi's 4010 answers by changing it to "if only you were a flower."
Third line, "te ni makite": "winding it round my wrist," wearing the jewel as a bracelet.
Fourth line, "mitsutsu yukamu o": "I would go gazing on it," o being adversative.
Fifth line, "okite ikaba oshi": "it is a pity to leave you behind," a hypermetric line of eight morae.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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