Ume no hana saki chiru sono ni ware yukamu kimi ga tsukai o katamachi gatera

梅の花咲き散る園に我れ行かむ
君が使を片待ちがてら

Roma-ji: Ume no hana saki chiru sono ni ware yukamu kimi ga tsukai o katamachi gatera
English Translation: To the garden where
the plum blossoms bloom and fall
I will make my way,
waiting there with all my heart
for a messenger from you.
Meaning: I will go to the garden where the plum blossoms bloom and scatter, waiting all the while, with my whole heart, for your messenger to come.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4041

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "At that time it was agreed to go sightseeing on the lagoon of Fuse the next day, and so each expressed his feelings in a poem."
The poet says he will go to the garden where the plum blossoms bloom and scatter, waiting all the while for a messenger from his beloved. It differs in mood from the surrounding poems about the outing to Fuse Bay, entrusting the heart of one who waits to a plum garden. As a song Sakimaro offered at the banquet, it can also be heard as echoing his eagerness to be called on the outing.
Tanabe no Sakimaro was a clerk in the Office of Sake Brewing who came to Etchū as the messenger of the Minister of the Left, Tachibana no Moroe. He was a poet of the late Man'yō period, skilled at long poems in praise of the court.

First line, "ume no hana": the poem begins with a spring blossom. In the next poem, 4042, wisteria appears, so the move from plum to wisteria marks the passing of the season.
Second line, "saki chiru sono ni": a plum garden where the flowers bloom and fall, a time passing from full bloom to scattering.
Third line, "ware yukamu": "mu" is an auxiliary of intention; the poet resolves to go to the garden. The poem pauses after the third line, and the lower lines add the reason in inverted order.
Fourth line, "kimi ga tsukai o": waiting for the messenger of "kimi" shows the relation between the one who waits and the one awaited.
Last line, "katamachi gatera": "katamatsu" means to wait single-mindedly, and "gatera" means "while" or "at the same time as." The poet will wait for the messenger while going to see the plum blossoms, singing from the side of the one who waits.
Author: Tanabe no Sakimaro
Source: Manyoshu
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