Ashihiki no yamada no sōzu uchiwabite hitori kaeru no ne o zo nakinuru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山田のそほづうちわびて
ひとりかへるの音をぞなきぬる

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yamada no sōzu uchiwabite hitori kaeru no ne o zo nakinuru
English Translation: Like the scarecrow
in a field in the far hills,
forlorn and dejected,
I go home alone, and like the frogs
I have cried my heart aloud
Meaning: Like a scarecrow standing in a mountain paddy, I stood there forlorn, and going home alone, I cried aloud like the frogs that croak in the fields.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems IV 806

Headnote: "A man went to the country house of a woman to whom he had been sending messages; he knocked, but perhaps she did not hear, for the gate was never opened, and hearing frogs croaking by the rice field, he composed this."
The poet says that, dejected like a scarecrow in a mountain paddy, he went home alone and cried aloud like a frog. Likening himself, left standing outside the gate, to a scarecrow and his weeping on the way home to the frogs' voices, he renders his misery with a touch of humor.
According to the headnote, a man visited the country house of a woman he had been writing to and knocked at the gate, but perhaps she did not hear, for it was never opened, and he composed the poem on hearing frogs croak beside the rice field.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Ashihiki no," is a pillow word modifying "yama," mountain.
The second line, "yamada no sōzu," means "the scarecrow in a mountain field," a figure for himself left standing outside the gate.
The third line, "uchiwabite," means "utterly dejected," with "uchi" a prefix that adjusts the rhythm.
The fourth line, "hitori kaeru no," means "going home alone," with "kaeru," to return, also meaning "frog."
The last line, "ne o zo nakinuru," means "I cried aloud," joining frogs' "croaking" with his own "weeping" in "naku." "Zo" is an emphatic binding particle closed by the attributive "nuru."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kage ni dani mie mo ya suru to tanomitsuru kai naku koi o masu kagami kana
Next Poem: Tane wa aredo au koto kataki iwa no ue no matsu nite toshi o furu wa kai nashi