Misora yuku kumo mo tsukai to hito wa iedo iezuto yaramu tazuki shirazu mo

み空行く雲も使と人は言へど
家づと遣らむたづき知らずも

Roma-ji: Misora yuku kumo mo tsukai to hito wa iedo iezuto yaramu tazuki shirazu mo
English Translation: Clouds that cross the sky
can serve as messengers too,
or so people say,
but how to send gifts to home
I know of no way at all
Meaning: People say the clouds that cross the sky can carry messages, but I know no way to send a gift home.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4410

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem with tanka setting forth the feelings of the frontier guards at parting."
People say the clouds in the sky can be messengers, but I know no way to send a gift home: the second envoy, lamenting the distance from home. The left note dates it to the twenty-third day of the second month, by Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Words might be entrusted to clouds but not a gift one can hold, he says, speaking as a guard. A guard's poem wishes to send word by wild geese, and both entrust feelings to things that travel the sky.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.

The first line, "misora yuku," with the prefix mi, means "crossing the great sky."
The second line, "kumo mo tsukai to," "that clouds too are messengers," names clouds as a way of conveying one's heart.
The third line, "hito wa iedo," "though people say," turns concessively to the lower half.
The fourth line, "iezuto yaramu," "to send a gift home"; the next poem also sings of iezuto, linking the two.
The closing line, "tazuki shirazu mo," uses tazuki, "means," lamenting: I know no way. It is the same as the last line of a Shimōsa guard's poem.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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