Kimi ga ie no ike no shiranami iso ni yose shibashiba mitomo akamu kimi kamo

君が家の池の白波磯に寄せ
しばしば見とも飽かむ君かも

Roma-ji: Kimi ga ie no ike no shiranami iso ni yose shibashiba mitomo akamu kimi kamo
English Translation: At your house, my lord,
the white waves upon the pond
break against the rocks;
though I see you time and again
could I ever tire of you?
Meaning: As the white waves on your pond break again and again against the rocky edge, though I see you time and again, could I ever tire of you?
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4503

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "In the second month, a banquet at the residence of Nakatomi no Kiyomaro, Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial; fifteen poems."
As white waves on your pond break again and again on the rocks, though I see you often, could I tire of you? The poem praises the host, Kiyomaro. The left note attributes it to Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Middle Controller of the Right. Taking up the "rocky shore" of the preceding poem and widening the scene to the pond's waves, it lays the waves' repetition over the many meetings.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Middle Controller of the Right.

The first line, "kimi ga ie no," hypermetric, means "of your house," the host Kiyomaro's residence.
The second line, "ike no shiranami," the white waves on the garden pond.
The third line, "iso ni yose," "breaking on the rocks": the first three lines form a preface leading to shibashiba. It takes up the "shore" of the preceding poem's last line.
The fourth line, "shibashiba mitomo," "though I see you often," turns from the repeated waves to repeated meetings.
The closing line, "akamu kimi kamo," uses kamo rhetorically: could I tire of you? Never.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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