Ie ni shite koitsutsu arazu wa na ga hakeru tachi ni naritemo iwaiteshikamo

家にして恋ひつつあらずは汝が佩ける
大刀になりても斎ひてしかも

Roma-ji: Ie ni shite koitsutsu arazu wa na ga hakeru tachi ni naritemo iwaiteshikamo
English Translation: Rather than stay home
and spend my days longing so,
I would become
the sword that hangs at your side
and keep you safe from all harm
Meaning: Rather than stay at home and pine for you, I would rather become the sword you wear at your side, and guard you from all harm.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4347

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
Rather than pine at home, I would become the sword at your side and guard you: a father's poem for his son gone as a frontier guard. According to the left note, Mamuta no Samimaro, junior clerk and escort officer of Kazusa Province, presented nineteen poems on the ninth day of the second month, and the clumsy ones were left out. This is the first, notable as the poem of a father seeing his son off rather than of a guard himself. The wish to become a sword clinging to his son's body shows a parent's urgent care. The next poem is by the son, Mikanaka, so father and son stand side by side.
The author is the father of Kusakabe no Mikanaka, a kuni no miyatsuko guard from Kazusa; his name has not come down.

The first line, "ie ni shite," "staying at home," gives the position of the one left behind.
The second line, "koitsutsu arazu wa," is hypermetric: "rather than go on longing." Zu wa expresses a choice, "rather than."
The third line, "na ga hakeru," means "that you wear at your waist," referring to his son.
The fourth line, "tachi ni naritemo," "even turning into the sword," chooses an object that never leaves the body.
The closing line, "iwaiteshikamo," uses the wishing particle teshikamo: how I wish I could guard you.
Source: Manyoshu
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