Au koto wa kataneburi naru isohitai hinerifusu tomo kai ya nakaramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

逢ふことはかたねぶりなる磯ひたひ
ひねり臥すともかひやなからむ

Roma-ji: Au koto wa kataneburi naru isohitai hinerifusu tomo kai ya nakaramu
English Translation: Meeting being hard,
half asleep and all alone
at the rocky edge,
though I writhe and toss I fear
there's no shell, no use at all
Meaning: Meeting is so hard; sleeping fitfully alone, though I writhe and toss at the edge of the rocky shore, there will be no shell, no worth in it at all.
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 501

Meeting is hard, the poet says, and though he writhes and tosses in a shallow, lonely sleep at the edge of the rocky shore, there will be no worth in it, as no shells are found there. The poem seems to pun on kata, hard and one-sided, and on kai, shell and worth, conveying in a playful tone the frustration of a love that cannot meet. Much about the meaning of the words is unclear.
Like poems 500 and 502 in this book, it puns on the sound kata for the difficulty of meeting.

First line, 'au koto wa', means meeting my beloved.
Second line, 'kataneburi naru', seems to be a pivot word in which kata means both meeting being hard and the one-sided sleep of one who sleeps alone, left in kana.
Third line, 'isohitai', seems to mean the edge of the rocky shore, leading into the seaside scene.
Fourth line, 'hinerifusu tomo', means though I writhe as I lie, using the concessive tomo.
Final line, 'kai ya nakaramu', is a pivot word in which kai means both a shell of the shore and worth, left in kana. The particle ya with the conjectural mu expresses a question. Kai in poems 461 and 462 in this book is the same pivot word.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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