Imo mo are mo Kiyomi no kawa no kawagishi no imo ga kuyubeki kokoro wa motaji

妹も我れも清みの川の川岸の
妹が悔ゆべき心は持たじ

Roma-ji: Imo mo are mo Kiyomi no kawa no kawagishi no imo ga kuyubeki kokoro wa motaji
English Translation: My love and I both
pure as Kiyomi's river—
as its banks give way,
so that my love might regret,
such a heart I'll never hold.
Meaning: My love and I are pure as the river of Kiyomi; as its banks may crumble, so might she come to regret—but I will never hold a heart that would give her cause.
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 437

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems composed in grief by Kawabe no Miyahito on seeing the body of a beautiful woman in the pine grove of Himeshima in Wadō 4, the year kanoto-i"
This is the last of Kawabe no Miyahito's four poems, closing the sequence. From the crumbling (kuyu) of the banks of the Kiyomi River comes its homophone kuyu, "to regret," and he vows never to hold a heart that would make his love regret. As with the preceding poem, a vow of love is placed within a sequence of elegies. The first three lines are a preface, overlaying kiyomi with the pureness of their hearts. The left note to this poem records its relation to the poems with the same heading in Book Two.
Kawabe no Miyahito's four poems form a sequence composed in deep grief upon seeing the body of a young woman in the pine grove of Himeshima in Settsu in Wadō 4 (711). Himeshima is thought to be in present-day Nishiyodogawa Ward, Osaka. The left note to the fourth poem says that the date, the place, and the author's name have already appeared earlier (meaning poems 228 and 229 of Book Two), but since the wording differs and it is hard to tell which is right, the poems are recorded here again.
The poet, Kawabe no Miyahito, lived in the early Nara period, but little is known of him.

First line "My love and I both" means "my wife and I."
Second line "pure as Kiyomi's river": Kiyomi means "pure," also taken as a place name; it overlays the purity of their hearts.
Third line "as its banks give way": the crumbling of the banks leads by sound to kuyu, "to regret," as a preface.
Fourth line "so that my love might regret" means something she would regret.
Fifth line "such a heart I'll never hold": ji expresses negative resolve, ending in a vow.
Author: Kawabe no Miyahito
Source: Manyoshu
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