Kaze o dani kouru wa tomoshi kaze o dani komu to shi mataba nani ka nagekamu

風をだに恋ふるは羨し風をだに
来むとし待たば何か嘆かむ

Roma-ji: Kaze o dani kouru wa tomoshi kaze o dani komu to shi mataba nani ka nagekamu
English Translation: Even for the wind
to long so, how I envy it;
even the wind, if
I could wait for it to come,
what would there be to lament
Meaning: How I envy you, who can long even for the wind; if I could at least wait for the wind to come, what would I have to grieve over?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 489

Headnote: "A poem composed by Princess Kagami"
This poem is placed as if in answer to the preceding poem by Princess Nukata. The poet envies one who can thrill to the wind as if it were a lover's coming; if she herself could at least wait for the wind to come, she would have nothing to grieve over. She voices the sorrow of one with no one to wait for, returning the "wind" of Princess Nukata's poem.
The two poems set one who has someone to wait for against one who has no one, so that the same wind arouses hope in one and envy in the other. Both also appear in Book Eight as 1606 and 1607.
The author, Princess Kagami, is said to have been loved by Emperor Tenji and later to have become the principal wife of Fujiwara no Kamatari. Some consider her Princess Nukata's elder sister, though this is not certain.

First line, "Even for the wind," uses dani, "if only, at least," to single out the wind as the least of things. It picks up directly the closing line of the preceding poem, "and the autumn wind blows through."
Second line, "to long so, how I envy it," uses tomoshi, "enviable," expressing envy of one who has a lover whose coming the wind could suggest. The poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "even the wind, if," repeats the first line, the doubled phrase smoothing the rhythm and deepening the urgency of the feeling.
Fourth line, "I could wait for it to come," joins the conjectural mu, the emphatic shi, and the hypothetical -ba: if I could wait, expecting at least the wind to come.
Fifth line, "what would there be to lament," is a rhetorical question with ka: what would I grieve over? I would not grieve at all. It closes in the attributive form of mu, as ka requires.
Author: Princess Kagami
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Kimi matsu to waga koioreba waga yado no sudare ugokashi aki no kaze fuku
Next Poem: Mano no ura no yodo no tsugihashi kokoro yu mo omoe ya imo ga ime ni shi miyuru