Tanomekoshi nobe no michishiba natsu fukashi izuku naruran mozu no kusaguki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

頼めこし野辺の道芝夏深し
いづくなるらん鵙の草茎

Roma-ji: Tanomekoshi nobe no michishiba natsu fukashi izuku naruran mozu no kusaguki
English Translation: The roadside grass of
the fields you gave me to trust
is deep with summer:
where could it be, I wonder,
the grass where the shrike hides?
Meaning: The roadside grass of the fields you led me to rely on is thick with deep summer; where could it be, the grass where the shrike has hidden itself?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 795

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Love hidden after a vow' when the men composed poems at the flower offering of the Fifth Month at the Hōjūji Palace"
Composed on the topic "love hidden after a vow," a love whose partner hides away after the pledge, when the men composed poems at the flower offering held in the Fifth Month before the Buddha at the Hōjūji Palace of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. The roadside grass of the fields that you gave me to rely on, he says, is deep with summer: where can it be, the grass where the shrike hides? Since the Man'yōshū poem "When spring comes, though the shrike's hiding place in the grass cannot be seen, I will gaze toward where you are," the shrike slipping into the grass and vanishing has been called "mozu no kusaguki." True to the topic, the summer grass grows so thick that even the path is lost, and he cannot tell where she has hidden herself, like the shrike in the grass.
The author, "Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," was the son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, later took the tonsure under the name Shakua, and compiled this anthology at the command of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.

First line, "tanomekoshi": "tanome" in its lower-bigrade use means to make someone rely on you, "that you have given me to rely on," giving the "after a vow" of the topic.
Second line, "nobe no michishiba": "michishiba" is grass growing by the road, the path he takes to her.
Third line, "natsu fukashi": "deep with summer," the grass grown thick. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "izuku naruran": "ran" is the present conjectural, "where can it be?", asking where she has gone. The poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "mozu no kusaguki": the poem ends on a noun, a poetic phrase since the Man'yōshū for the shrike slipping into the grass and hiding, giving the "hidden" of the topic.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Naozari ni Miwa no sugi to wa oshieokite tazunuru toki wa awanu kimi kana
Next Poem: Fuyu no hi o haru yori nagaku nasu mono wa koitsutsu kurasu kokoro narikeri