Ikade nao waga mi ni kaete Takekuma no matsu to mo naramu yuku hito no tame - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかで猶我が身にかへて武隈の
松ともならむ行く人のため

Roma-ji: Ikade nao waga mi ni kaete Takekuma no matsu to mo naramu yuku hito no tame
English Translation: Somehow, even so,
I wish I could give myself
and at Takekuma
become one of its pine trees,
for the one who travels there.
Meaning: Somehow, even so, I would give up this body of mine to become a pine of Takekuma, for the sake of the one who goes there.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 460

Headnote: "When someone with whom I had been close went down to Michinoku"
As someone close to him is going down to Michinoku, the poet says he would give up his own body to become a pine of Takekuma for the sake of the traveler. He expresses a wish to become the famous pine of Takekuma in Michinoku, to welcome and watch over a friend bound for a distant land. In "matsu," pine, the sense of "matsu," to wait for the friend's return, also echoes. Following 458 in this book, it is another poem the author composed thinking of a departing traveler.
The author, written as Yoshinobu, is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. A son of Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto, he served as chief priest of the Ise Shrine. He was one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The pine of Takekuma was a two-trunked pine at Iwanuma in Michinoku, a poetic place sung in many poems since the Gosenshū.

First line, "ikade nao," means "somehow, even so."
Second line, "waga mi ni kaete," means "in exchange for myself."
Third line, "Takekuma no," means "of Takekuma" in Michinoku, a famous poetic place.
Fourth line, "matsu to mo naramu," means "I would become a pine," with "mu" an auxiliary of intention or wish. In "matsu," pine, "matsu," to wait for the friend, echoes. The poem breaks here.
Final line, "yuku hito no tame," means "for the one who goes," giving through inversion the reason for the wish afterward.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kako no shima matsubara goshi ni naku tazu no ana naganagashi kiku hito nashi ni
Next Poem: Yukusue no shirushi bakari ni nokoru beki matsu sae itaku oinikeru kana