Namima yori miyuru kobune no hamahisagi hisashiku narinu kimi ni awazute - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

波間より見ゆる小舟の浜久木
久しくなりぬ君に逢はずて

Roma-ji: Namima yori miyuru kobune no hamahisagi hisashiku narinu kimi ni awazute
English Translation: Between the waves seen,
the little boat, and nearby
the catalpa on the shore—
so long a time has passed now
without my meeting you.
Meaning: Like the catalpa on the shore beyond the small boat seen between the waves, so long a time has passed now without my meeting you.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 856

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem laments that, like the name of the beach catalpa seen through the waves, a long time has passed without meeting you. The seaside scene of the upper verse, repeating a sound, leads into "hisashiku," a long while, in the lower verse.
A similar poem appears in Book Eleven of the Man'yōshū with the second line "miyuru kojima no."
The second line of the main text reads "miyuru kobune no," which does not match "miyuru kojima no" in the reading line; here the main text is followed. By the reading line, the sense would be the beach catalpa on a small island seen between the waves.

First line, "namima yori," means "from between the waves."
Second line, "miyuru kobune no," means "of the small boat that can be seen," picturing a boat glimpsed among the waves.
Third line, "hamahisagi," is the hisagi tree growing on the shore; from the first line to here forms a preface leading by sound to "hisashiku."
Fourth line, "hisashiku narinu," means "it has grown long," with "nu" a perfective auxiliary. The poem breaks here.
Final line, "kimi ni awazute," means "without meeting you," inverted with the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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