Yama tōmi kumoi ni kari no koete inaba ware nomi hitori ne ni ya nakinamu

山遠み雲居に雁の越えていなば
我のみひとりねにや鳴きなむ

Roma-ji: Yama tōmi kumoi ni kari no koete inaba ware nomi hitori ne ni ya nakinamu
English Translation: The hills are so far,
and when the geese have crossed them
into the high clouds,
shall I alone be left behind
to sleep and cry aloud?
Meaning: The mountains are so far away; when the wild geese have crossed them and vanished into the clouds, shall I be left all alone, sleeping by myself and crying aloud?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 602

Headnote: "When a lady-in-waiting who served close to me asked leave, saying she would go to a distant province"
A lady-in-waiting who served close by asked leave to go to a distant province, and the poet likens her to a wild goose crossing far mountains into the clouds, wondering whether he will be left to cry alone. It voices the loneliness of parting.
The Ruijū text writes the headnote with "whom I kept close in service." The base text has line 5 as naku nan, read nakinamu after the text transmitted by Teika and Sasaki Nobutsuna's annotated edition; that reading is followed here.

Line 1 means "since the mountains are far," mi expressing cause.
Line 2 means "the wild geese, into the clouds," the departing lady likened to a goose.
Line 3 means "if they cross and go."
Line 4 means "I alone, by myself."
Line 5 means "shall I cry aloud?" ne meaning both the "sound" of crying and "sleep" alone; ya is interrogative, concluded by namu. The cry of the departing geese and the poet's own weeping are overlaid.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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