Ume ga e o kari ni kite oru hito ya aru to nobe no kasumi wa tachikakusu kamo - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

梅が枝をかりに来て折る人やあると
野辺の霞は立ち隠すかも

Roma-ji: Ume ga e o kari ni kite oru hito ya aru to nobe no kasumi wa tachikakusu kamo
English Translation: Lest someone should come
to cut a branch of the plum
in passing, perhaps,
the haze upon the meadows
rises up to hide it away.
Meaning: Perhaps, fearing someone might come by in passing to break off a branch of the plum, the haze over the fields is rising up to hide it.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1014

Headnote: "From the poems for twelve three-foot screens in the reign of Retired Emperor En'yū"
The poet wonders whether the haze over the fields is rising to hide the plum, thinking someone might drop by for a moment and break off its branches. The headnote shows it was one of the poems for twelve three-foot screens made in the reign of Emperor En'yū. It sees in the screen painting of a field plum veiled in haze the haze trying to hide the plum to keep it from people. It closes the sequence on the plum, and from here the poems move on to haze.
The author, written as "Minamoto no Shitagō," is Minamoto no Shitagau. Of the Saga Genji line, he took part, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, in compiling the Gosenshū and reading the Man'yōshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ume ga e o," means "a branch of plum," closing the sequence of plum poems that runs from 1005.
Second line, "kari ni kite oru," means "come by in passing and break off," with "kari" understood as a pivot word on "passing" and "cutting."
Third line, "hito ya aru to," means "lest someone should," with "ya" a binding particle of question.
Fourth line, "nobe no kasumi wa," means "the haze over the fields," and from here to 1019 poems on haze continue.
Final line, "tachikakusu kamo," means "does it rise and hide it," with "kamo" expressing question and exclamation. It shares the haze that "rises and hides" with the fourth and final lines of 1017 in this book, "michi samatage ni tachi na kakushi so," pairing a poem that wonders whether the haze hides with one that begs it not to.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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