Ie omou to i o nezu oreba tazu ga naku ashibe mo miezu haru no kasumi ni

家思ふと寐を寝ず居れば鶴が鳴く
葦辺も見えず春の霞に

Roma-ji: Ie omou to i o nezu oreba tazu ga naku ashibe mo miezu haru no kasumi ni
English Translation: Thinking of my home
I lie and cannot find sleep,
and where cranes call out
not even the reed beds show
through the haze of early spring
Meaning: Lying awake thinking of home, I cannot even see the reed beds where the cranes cry, hidden in the spring haze.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4400

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem with tanka composed setting forth thoughts in the person of a frontier guard."
Lying awake thinking of home, I cannot even see the reed beds where the cranes cry, for the spring haze: the second envoy, singing of a guard's sleepless night. The left note dates it to the nineteenth day of the second month and attributes it to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Taking up the cranes and haze of the preceding poem, it lays over the cranes, heard but unseen, the forlornness of one who thinks of home yet can see nothing.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.

The first line, "ie omou to," "thinking of home," is hypermetric.
The second line, "i o nezu oreba," "as I lie unable to sleep," shows sleeplessness caused by longing for home.
The third line, "tazu ga naku," takes up "the cranes' cry" of the preceding poem, showing that only their voices are heard.
The fourth line, "ashibe mo miezu," "not even the reed beds can be seen," ends the first sentence.
The closing line, "haru no kasumi ni," is inverted, adding the reason afterward: because of the spring haze. It takes up "haze trailing" in the preceding poem.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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