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Mikuniyama konure ni sumau musasabi no tori matsu gotoku ware machi yasemu
Like the flying squirrel living in the treetops of Mount Mikuni, waiting for birds, I too will waste away with waiting.
Iwakura no ono yu akizu ni tachiwataru kumo ni shi mo are ya toki o shi matamu
Am I a cloud that spreads from the meadows of Iwakura over Akizu? I am not—so how could I bide my time and wait?
Amakumo ni chikaku hikarite naru kami no mireba kashikoshi mineba kanashi mo
Like the thunder that flashes and roars close to the clouds of heaven—when I see you I am filled with awe, and when I do not, I am filled with sorrow.
Hanahada mo furanu ame yue niwatazumi itaku na yuki so hito no shirubeku
The rain hardly fell at all—so, rivulets of rainwater, do not run so hard, or people will come to know.
Hisakata no ame ni wa kinu o ayashiku mo waga koromode wa hiru toki naki ka
I never wore it out in the rain, and yet, strangely, the sleeves of my robe never have a moment to dry.
Misora yuku tsukuyomi otoko yū sarazu me ni wa miredomo yoru yoshi mo nashi
The young man of the moon, crossing the high sky—every evening I see him with my eyes, yet I have no way to draw near.
Kasugayama yama takaku arashi iwa no ue no suga no ne mimu ni tsuki machikatashi
Mount Kasuga must be high indeed—I would see the roots of the sedge on the rocks, but I can hardly wait for the moon to rise.
Yami no yo wa kurushiki mono o itsushika to waga matsu tsuki mo haya mo teranu ka
A dark night is hard to bear—so the moon I wait for, wondering when it will come, would that it would shine out soon!
Asashimo no keyasuki inochi ta ga tame ni chitose mo ga mo to waga omowanaku ni
This life melts away as easily as morning frost—for whose sake would I wish it to last a thousand years? For no one but you.
Yamato no uda no mahani no sani tsukaba soko mo ka hito no wa o koto nasamu
If the red of the fine red clay of Uda in Yamato should stain my robe, would people, for that alone, make me the talk of the town?
Yū kakete matsuru mimoro no kamusabite imu ni wa arazu hitome ōmi koso
It is not that I hold myself apart in holy reverence, like the god of Mimoro worshipped with hangings of mulberry cloth—it is only that so many eyes are watching.
Yū kakete iwau kono mori koenubeku omōyuru kamo koi no shigeki ni
This shrine, held sacred with hangings of mulberry cloth—I feel I might even cross into it, so fierce is my longing.
Taezu yuku asuka no kawa no yodomeraba yue shi mo aru goto hito no mimaku ni
If the river of Asuka, which flows without ceasing, should ever stand still, people would look on as though there were some reason behind it.
Asukagawa seze ni tamamo wa oitaredo shigarami areba nabikiawanaku ni
In every shallow of the Asuka River the lovely waterweed grows, yet because of the weirs set across the stream, they cannot sway together.
Hirosegawa sode tsuku bakari asaki o ya kokoro fukamete waga omoeru ramu
The Hirose River is so shallow it barely wets one's sleeves—so why is it that I think of you with so deep a heart?
Hatsusegawa nagaruru minawa no taeba koso aga omou kokoro togeji to omowame
Only if the foam flowing on the Hatsuse River were ever to cease would I think that the love I hold could not be fulfilled.