Sayuribana yuri mo awamu to shitabauru kokoro shi naku wa kyō mo heme ya mo

さ百合花ゆりも逢はむと下延ふる
心しなくは今日も経めやも

Roma-ji: Sayuribana yuri mo awamu to shitabauru kokoro shi naku wa kyō mo heme ya mo
English Translation: Lily blossoms—
"later, too, we two shall meet,"
if this secret hope
were not hidden in my heart,
could I pass even one day?
Meaning: Like the lily whose name means "later," I secretly hope that we will meet again; without that hope in my heart, could I get through even this one day?
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4115

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem on the flowers in the garden [with short poems]." "Two envoys."
The poet says that were it not for the secret hope of meeting again later, he could not get through even a single day. Following the pink of the preceding poem, this envoy uses the lily to express how he endures his days in Etchū with the hope of being reunited with his wife in the capital.
Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito, and from 746 he served as governor of Etchū. He is believed to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū, and this book has the character of a poetic diary of his years in Etchū.
The left note reads, "Composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the same twenty-sixth of the intercalary fifth month."

First line, "sayuribana": "sa" is a prefix, "lily blossoms," leading to the homophone "yuri."
Second line, "yuri mo awamu to": "yuri" means "later." It is the same phrase, "sayuribana yuri mo awamu to," as in Kura no Nawamaro's 4087 and the response to it, 4088, so words exchanged at a banquet are here sung as longing for a wife.
Third line, "shitabauru": "shitabau" means to go on thinking secretly in one's heart.
Fourth line, "kokoro shi naku wa": "shi" is emphatic and "naku wa" makes a hypothetical, "if there were not."
Last line, "kyō mo heme ya mo": "me ya mo" is rhetorical, "could I pass even today? I could not." Like "hina ni hitohi mo arubeku mo are ya" in the long poem, it sings of how hard it is to get through a single day.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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