Yukosaki ni nami na toerai shirue ni wa ko o to tsuma o to okite tomo kinu

行こ先に波なとゑらひ後方には
子をと妻をと置きてとも来ぬ

Roma-ji: Yukosaki ni nami na toerai shirue ni wa ko o to tsuma o to okite tomo kinu
English Translation: Out ahead, you waves,
do not rise and toss and swell;
back there behind me
my children and my wife both
I have left and come away
Meaning: O waves ahead, do not surge and swell. Behind me I have left both my children and my wife to come here.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4385

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."
O waves ahead, do not surge; behind me I have left both children and wife: a prayer for a safe voyage. It is the second poem from Shimōsa. Setting the sea ahead against the home behind, it says he must return safely for the sake of the wife and children he left. Yukosaki for yukusaki and shirue for shirie are dialect forms.
The author, Kisaibe no Iwashima, was a guard from Katsushika District in Shimōsa; nothing more is known of him.

The first line, "yukosaki ni," "ahead," refers to the sea route to come.
The second line, "nami na toerai," uses the prohibitive na with toerau, thought to mean "to surge": waves, do not rise. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "shirue ni wa," "behind," pairs with the first line's "ahead."
The fourth line, "ko o to tsuma o to," "both children and wife," lists the family he left.
The closing line, "okite tomo kinu," "I have left them and come," states it with force.
Author: Kisaibe no Iwashima
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Akatoki no kawataredoki ni shimakagi o koginishi fune no tazuki shirazu mo
Next Poem: Waga kazu no itsumoto yanagi itsumo itsumo omo ga koisusu narimashitsu shimo