Niwa no omo ni shigerinikerashi yaemugura towade ikuyo no aki ka henuramu

庭の面に茂りにけらし八重葎
訪はで幾世の秋か経ぬらむ

Roma-ji: Niwa no omo ni shigerinikerashi yaemugura towade ikuyo no aki ka henuramu
English Translation: Across the garden
they seem to have grown thick,
the tangled weeds;
without your coming, how many
autumns have gone by?
Meaning: It seems the tangled weeds have grown thick across the garden; how many autumns have passed without your coming?
Commentary: Love Poems 508

Headnote: "Love in winter"
Seeing the tangled weeds grown thick across the garden where the lover no longer comes, the poet laments how many autumns have passed without a visit. The neglected garden is laid over a love that has ceased.

Line 1 means "across the face of the garden."
Line 2 means "they seem to have grown thick," kerashi expressing grounded inference; the poem pauses here.
Line 3 names the tangled vines, symbol of a neglected house; the subject is placed after by inversion.
Line 4 means "without your visiting, how many years of."
Line 5: ka binds the attributive ramu; like "the years have passed" in 491, it laments the years spent waiting.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Satsukiyami ko no shitayami no kurakereba onore madoite naku hototogisu
Next Poem: Asajihara ato naki nobe ni oku tsuyu no musubōretsutsu kie ya wataramu