Waga seko o waga koioreba waga yado no kusa sae omoi uragarenikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が背子を我が恋ひ居れば我が宿の
草さへ思ひうらがれにけり

Roma-ji: Waga seko o waga koioreba waga yado no kusa sae omoi uragarenikeri
English Translation: While I long for him,
my husband, while I pine so,
even the grass of
my garden, brooding, has now
withered away at its tips.
Meaning: As I long for my husband, even the grass of my garden has brooded and withered at its tips.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 845

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent to a woman"
The poem says that as one longs for one's husband, even the grass in one's garden has brooded and withered at the tips. Over the grass withering from its tips at the end of autumn, it lays one's own heart wilting with the troubles of love.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.
A similar poem is included in Book Ten of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "waga seko o," means "my husband." It is the same line as the first lines of 818 and 819.
Second line, "waga koioreba," means "as I long for him," repeating "waga" from the first line.
Third line, "waga yado no," means "of my garden," repeating "waga" a third time to set the rhythm.
Fourth line, "kusa sae omoi," means "even the grass brooding," with "sae" additive.
Final line, "uragarenikeri," is a pivot word: "ura" means the "tips" of leaves and "ura," the heart, overlaying the withering of tips with a heart wilting. It shares withering with "karenikeri" in 841.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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