Mukashi mishi aruji gao ni mo ume ga e no hana dani ware ni monogatari seyo - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

昔見し主顔にも梅が枝の
花だに我に物語せよ

Roma-ji: Mukashi mishi aruji gao ni mo ume ga e no hana dani ware ni monogatari seyo
English Translation: The master I once
knew, like him you bloom here now,
O branch of the plum,
at least you, flowers, to me
tell the tales of long ago
Meaning: O plum blossoms on the branch, blooming as though you were the master I once knew, at least you, tell me stories of the past.
Commentary: Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 604

The master of the house the poet once knew is gone, yet the plum blossoms bloom as if they were that master; at least the flowers, he pleads, should tell him of the past. Calling to the plum that still blooms at a house that has lost its master, he expresses his longing for the departed.
This is the opening poem of Book Ten, Miscellaneous Poems II, and a series of laments for the dead follows from here. The opening poem of Book Nine, 516, also turns to plum blossoms once seen to reflect on the passing years, so both books of miscellaneous poems open with a plum once seen long ago. The closing poem of this book, 665, is by Minamoto no Toshiyori, ranked alongside this poet, lamenting that he has long lain buried in the world; against an opening that asks to hear of the past, the book closes with a lament for years long buried.
The author, Mototoshi, is Fujiwara no Mototoshi, a son of the Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie and a great-grandson of Fujiwara no Michinaga. Though his rank stopped at Junior Fifth Upper as Assistant Captain of the Left Gate Guards, he was, with Minamoto no Toshiyori, a leading figure of the poetry world in the cloister era and is known as the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei. One of his poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, 'mukashi mishi', means whom I saw long ago, the attributive shi of the past ki modifying aruji in the second line. It echoes mukashi waga mishi in the second line of 516 in Book Nine.
Second line, 'aruji gao ni mo', means with the face of a master, describing the plum blooming as if it were master of the house. The master is no longer in this world, and only the flowers wear his face.
Third line, 'ume ga e no', means of the plum branch.
Fourth line, 'hana dani ware ni', means at least you flowers, to me, the particle dani expressing the wish that, with the person gone, at least the flowers might do so.
Final line, 'monogatari seyo', means tell me tales, closing with an imperative addressed to the flowers. The blossoms are personified.
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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