If you were a person
like the Aneha pine
of Kurihara,
as a keepsake for the capital
I would say, come, let us go.

Meaning

If you were a person like the famous Aneha pine of Kurihara, I would say, as a keepsake for the capital, come, let us go together.

Commentary

Episode Fourteen: "To become a silkworm"

A man traveled aimlessly to the province of Mutsu and there met a woman who lived in that land. The woman, intrigued by the man who had come from the capital, grew fond of him.

After spending a night together, when the man was about to leave that land, he composed this poem for the woman.

The "Aneha pine of Kurihara" was a famous pine at Aneha in Kurihara, long celebrated in poetry. The poem implies that if she were as splendid as the Aneha pine, he would invite her to go with him to the capital; yet the woman did not grasp the implication and, misunderstanding it, rejoiced, thinking that he loved her.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

Rather than thus not die of love at all, better to have been a silkworm— with but a jewel-cord’s span of life.
When night breaks, I would thrust it in the tub— that foolish cock, crying too soon, has sent my husband away.
On Shinobu Mountain, a hidden path for secret visits— would that there were one, that I might even see the depths of her heart.
Folding my fingers, counting the times we met— when I say ten, ten and ten and ten and ten have already passed.

If you were a person like the Aneha pine of Kurihara, as a keepsake for the capital I would say, come, let us go.

If you were a person
like the Aneha pine
of Kurihara,
as a keepsake for the capital
I would say, come, let us go.