If it becomes a field,
I will turn into a quail
and cry there in grief—
would you not come, even then,
if only for the hunt?

Meaning

If it should become a wild, overgrown field, I will turn into a quail and cry there in sorrow—would you not come, even if only for the hunt?

Commentary

123 Through Passing Years

There was a certain man. He had long visited a woman who lived in the village of Fukakusa in Yamashiro (now the northern part of Fushimi in Kyoto), but gradually he grew weary of her.
This poem is a reply to the man’s verse: “Through passing years in this village I have dwelt—should I now depart, will it become even more a deep grass field of neglect?” The man, hearing this poem, was moved and abandoned his intention to leave the village.

In response to the man who sought to part, the woman accepts his feeling and says that she will remain, weeping and waiting even for the rare chance of his visit. Moved by her gentleness, the man could not help but feel affection for her once more.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

If it becomes a field, I will turn into a quail and cry there in grief— would you not come, even then, if only for the hunt?

If it becomes a field,
I will turn into a quail
and cry there in grief—
would you not come, even then,
if only for the hunt?