Hitachi sashi yukamu kari mo ga aga koi o shirushite tsukete imo ni shirasemu

常陸指し行かむ雁もが我が恋を
記して付けて妹に知らせむ

Roma-ji: Hitachi sashi yukamu kari mo ga aga koi o shirushite tsukete imo ni shirasemu
English Translation: Toward Hitachi
would there were wild geese flying!
Then my longing heart
I'd write down and tie on them
to let my dear wife know
Meaning: If only there were geese flying toward Hitachi! I would write down my longing, tie it to them, and let my wife know.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4366

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."
If only there were geese flying to Hitachi, I would write my longing, tie it on, and let my wife know: the poem wishes for a way to send word. It is the fourth poem from Hitachi, by the same author as the preceding one. The idea of entrusting a letter to geese is thought to echo the Chinese tale of Su Wu's goose letter.
The author, Mononobe no Michitari, was a guard from Shida District in Hitachi; nothing more is known of him.

The first line, "Hitachi sashi," "heading for Hitachi," names his home province.
The second line, "yukamu kari mo ga," with the wishing moga: if only there were geese flying there. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "aga koi o," "my longing," names what he would send.
The fourth line, "shirushite tsukete," "writing it down and tying it on," pictures concretely how to send it.
The closing line, "imo ni shirasemu," with the volitional mu: I would let my wife know. After asking people to tell her in the preceding poem, here he would entrust it to the geese.
Author: Mononobe no Michitari
Source: Manyoshu
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