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- Manyoshu
Koyoi no hayaku akenaba sube o nami aki no momoyo o negaitsuru kamo
If this night were to end too soon I would be helpless, so I have wished it might be as long as a hundred autumn nights.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Ametsuchi no kami mo tasukeyo kusamakura tabiyuku kimi ga ie ni itaru made
Gods of heaven and earth, grant your help to my lord as he travels, until he reaches his home.
Ōbune no omoi tanomishi kimi ga inaba are wa koimu na tada ni au made ni
Once you, on whom I relied as on a great ship, have gone away, how I will long for you until we can meet face to face again.
Yamatoji no shima no uramu ni yosuru nami aida mo nakemu aga koimaku wa
Like the waves breaking on the curving shore of the island on the road to Yamato, my longing for you will know no pause.
Aga kimi wa wake o ba shine to omoe kamo au yo awanu yo futa hashiruramu
Do you, my dear lord, wish this humble one to die, that the nights you meet me and the nights you do not run off in two directions so?
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Miyori
Amakumo no sokue no kiwami tōkedomo kokoro shi yukeba kouru mono kamo
Though you are as far away as the clouds at the very edge of heaven, my heart travels to you, and so, it seems, I long for you.
Manyoshu - Princess Nyū
Furuhito no tamaeshimetaru kibi no sake yameba sube nashi nukisu tabaramu
If the Kibi wine you, my old friend, have given me to drink should make me ill, I will be at a loss; please send me a bamboo mat as well.
Manyoshu - Princess Nyū
Kimi ga tame kamishi machizake yasu no no ni hitori ya nomamu tomo nashi ni shite
The wine I brewed for your sake, awaiting your coming, must I now drink it alone on the plain of Yasu, with no friend beside me?
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Tabito
Tsukushibune imada mo koneba arakajime araburu kimi o miru ga kanashisa
The ship for Tsukushi has not yet come, yet already I see you growing distant, and how it saddens me.
Manyoshu - Princess Kamo
Ōbune o kogi no susumi ni iwa ni fure kaeraba kaere imo ni yorite wa
If, in rowing our great ship onward, we strike the rocks, let it capsize if it must; for my beloved, I do not care.
Manyoshu - Haji no Mimichi
Chihayaburu kami no yashiro ni waga kakeshi nusa wa tabaramu imo ni awanaku ni
The offerings I hung at the shrine of the mighty gods, give them back to me, since I still have not met my beloved.
Manyoshu - Haji no Mimichi
Koto mo naku ikikoshi mono o oinami ni kakaru koi ni mo ware wa aeru kamo
I had lived my life without any trouble, yet now in my old age I have met with a love like this.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Momoyo
Koishinamu nochi wa nani semu ikeru hi no tame koso imo o mimaku horisure
What use will it be once I have died of love? It is for the days while I am alive that I long to see you.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Momoyo
Omowanu o omou to iwaba ōno naru mikasa no mori no kami shi shirasamu
If I were to say I love you when I do not, the god of the Mikasa grove at Ōno would surely know it.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Momoyo
Itoma naku hito no mayone o itazura ni kakashimetsutsu mo awanu imo kamo
Ceaselessly you make my eyebrows itch, all in vain, and still, my love, you do not come to meet me.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Momoyo
Kurokami ni shirokami majiri oyuru made kakaru koi ni wa imada awanaku ni
White hairs have come into my black hair and I have grown old, yet never until now have I met with a love like this.
Manyoshu - Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue