Shio miteba irinuru iso no kusa nare ya miraku sukunaku kouraku no ōki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

潮満てば入りぬる磯の草なれや
見らく少なく恋ふらくの多き

Roma-ji: Shio miteba irinuru iso no kusa nare ya miraku sukunaku kouraku no ōki
English Translation: Are you like the grass
of the shore that disappears
when the tide comes in?
So seldom are you seen,
so great is my longing.
Meaning: Are you like the grass of the shore that hides beneath the rising tide? So seldom do I see you, and so great is my longing.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 967

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks: is my love the grass of the shore that hides when the tide comes in? Our meetings are few, and my longing so great. Likening a lover rarely met to the shore grass that only seldom shows itself, it contrasts the scarcity of meetings with mounting longing.
The author, "Sakanoue no Iratsume", is Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. A leading woman poet of the Man'yōshū, she was the aunt of Ōtomo no Yakamochi and also became his mother-in-law when her daughter, Sakanoue no Ōiratsume, married him.
A similar poem of the same sense appears in Book Seven of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "shio miteba," means "when the tide rises."
Second line, "irinuru iso no," means "of the shore that sinks beneath the water."
Third line, "kusa nare ya," means "is it the grass?" with "ya" interrogative. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, "miraku sukunaku," means "seeing is rare," with "miraku" a ku-nominalization of "miru," meaning seeing or meeting.
Final line, "kouraku no ōki," means "longing is great," with "kouraku" likewise a ku-nominalization. The fourth and final lines form a parallel pair, ending on the attributive of the adjective "ōshi."
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Shui Wakashu
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