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- Manyoshu
Amanogawa se o hayami ka mo nubatama no yo wa fukenitsutsu awanu hikoboshi
Is it because the currents of the Heavenly River run so swift? The black night grows ever later, and still the Herdsman has not met her.
Watarimori fune haya watase hitotose ni futatabi kayou kimi ni aranaku ni
Ferryman, bring the boat across quickly! He is not one who can come twice in a single year.
Tamakazura taenu mono kara sanuraku wa toshi no watari ni tada hitoyo nomi
Though our bond, like the jeweled vine, is never broken, the nights we sleep together are only one, at the year's single crossing.
Kouru hi wa kenagaki mono o koyoi dani tomoshimubeshi ya aubeki mono o
The days of longing are so long—so should you leave me wanting even tonight, when we are meant to meet?
Tanabata no koyoi ainaba tsune no goto asu o hedatete toshi wa nagakemu
If the Weaver Maiden meets him tonight, then as always, from tomorrow they will be parted, and the year will be long.
Amanogawa tanahashi watase tanabata no iwatarasamu ni tanahashi watase
Lay a plank bridge across the Heavenly River! So that the Weaver Maiden may cross, lay a plank bridge across!
Amanogawa kawato yaso ari izuku ni ka kimi ga mifune o waga machioramu
The Heavenly River has countless crossings—at which one should I wait for your boat?
Akikaze no fukinishi hi yori amanogawa se ni idetachite matsu to tsuge koso
Tell him that ever since the day the autumn wind began to blow, I have gone out and stood waiting at the shoals of the Heavenly River.
Amanogawa kozo no watarize arenikeri kimi ga kimasamu michi no shiranaku
Last year's ford across the Heavenly River has fallen into ruin—I do not know the way by which you will come.
Amanogawa sese ni shiranami takakedomo tada watarikinu mataba kurushimi
Though white waves run high over every shoal of the Heavenly River, I came straight across—for waiting would have been too painful.
Hikoboshi no tsuma yobu fune no hikizuna no taemu to kimi o waga omowanaku ni
Like the towrope of the boat by which the Herdsman calls his wife, I have never once thought that our bond might break.
Watarimori funade shi idemu koyoi nomi aimite nochi wa awaji mono ka mo
Ferryman, I will set out now. It is not as though, having met only tonight, we shall never meet again.
Waga kakuseru kajisao nakute watarimori fune kasame ya mo shimashi wa arimate
I have hidden the oars and poles—so would the ferryman lend you a boat? Surely not. Stay and wait a while.
Komanishiki himo tokikawashi amebito no tsumadou yoi zo ware mo shinowamu
Tonight the one in heaven goes to court his wife, the two loosening each other's sashes of Koma brocade—I too will think fondly of my love.
Hikoboshi no kawase o wataru saobune no e yukite hatemu kawazu shi omōyu
I think of the ford where the Herdsman's little boat, crossing the river shoals, will safely arrive and come to rest.
Imo ni au toki katamatsu to hisakata no ama no kawara ni tsuki zo henikeru
Waiting single-mindedly for the time to meet my wife, I have let the months pass by on the shore of the Heavenly River.