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- Manyoshu
Satsukiyama hanatachibana ni hototogisu komorau toki ni aeru kimi ka mo
In the Fifth Month mountains, when the hototogisu hides itself among the flowering tachibana—that is when I have come to meet you.
Hototogisu kinaku satsuki no mijikayo mo hitori shi nureba akashikanetsu mo
Even the short nights of the Fifth Month, when the hototogisu comes to sing, are hard to bring to dawn when I sleep alone.
Higurashi wa toki to nakedomo katakoi ni tawayame ware wa toki wakazu naku
The evening cicada sings at its own fixed hour, but I, a frail woman in one-sided love, weep without regard to time.
Hitogoto wa natsuno no kusa no shigeku tomo imo to are to shi tazusawari neba
Though people's gossip grows thick as the grasses of the summer fields—so long as my beloved and I can sleep hand in hand.
Kono koro no koi no shigekeku natsukusa no kariharaedomo oishiku gotoshi
The thickness of my longing these days is like summer grass—though I cut it down and clear it away, it keeps growing back.
Makuzu hau natsuno no shigeku kaku koiba makoto waga inochi tsune narame ya mo
If I go on loving like this, thick as the summer fields where the kudzu creeps, how can my life truly remain unharmed?
Are nomi ya kaku koi suramu kakitsubata nitsurau imo wa ika ni ka aruramu
Am I the only one who longs like this? How is it with my beloved, rosy-cheeked and lovely as the iris flower?
Katayori ni ito o zo waga yoru waga seko ga hanatachibana o nukamu to omoite
I am twisting a single-strand thread, thinking to string upon it the tachibana blossoms of my beloved's home.
Uguisu no kayou kakine no unohana no uki koto are ya kimi ga kimasanu
Like the deutzia on the hedge where the warbler comes and goes—is something troubling you, that you do not come?
Unohana no saku to wa nashi ni aru hito ni koi ya wataramu katamoi ni shite
Must I go on longing, in one-sided love, for someone who never opens to me, as the deutzia never blooms?
Ware koso ba nikuku mo arame waga yado no hanatachibana o mi ni wa koji to ya
It may be that you find me hateful—but will you not even come to see the tachibana blossoms at my home?
Hototogisu kinaki toyomosu okabe naru fujinami mi ni wa kimi wa koji to ya
Will you not come even to see the wisteria on the hillside, where the hototogisu comes and fills the air with song?
Komori nomi koureba kurushi nadeshiko no hana ni sakide yo asana sana mimu
Loving only in secret is painful—so bloom forth as a wild pink flower, and I will gaze on you morning after morning.
Yoso nomi ni mitsutsu koinamu kurenai no suetsumuhana no iro ni idezu tomo
I will go on loving you, watching only from afar—even if, unlike the crimson safflower, my love never shows its color.
Natsukusa no tsuyuwakegoromo tsukenaku ni waga koromode no hiru toki mo naki
I have not worn a robe for parting the dew of the summer grass, and yet my sleeves never have a moment to dry.
Minazuki no tsuchi sae sakete teru hi ni mo waga sode hime ya kimi ni awazu shite
Even in the sun of the Sixth Month, which blazes till the very earth cracks, could my sleeves ever dry, so long as I have not met you?