Waga seko ni mata wa awaji ka to omoeba ka kesa no wakare no sube nakaritsuru

我が背子にまたは逢はじかと思へばか
今朝の別れのすべなかりつる

Roma-ji: Waga seko ni mata wa awaji ka to omoeba ka kesa no wakare no sube nakaritsuru
English Translation: Is it that I think,
O my dearest, that with you
I shall meet no more,
that the parting of this morning
was so hard, so hard to bear
Meaning: Was it because I feared I might never meet you again that this morning's parting was so unbearably hard?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 540

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems sent by Princess Takata to Prince Imaki"
Was it because she feared she might never meet him again, the poet asks, that this morning's parting was so unbearable? The morning farewell after a night together is shadowed by the fear of never meeting again, deepening its sorrow.
The author, Princess Takata, is thought to be a daughter of Prince Takayasu. The recipient, Prince Imaki, was the son of Ōtomo no Iratsume and was later granted the surname Ōhara no Mahito.

First line, "Is it that I think," opens with "to my dearest," calling to her lover.
Second line, "O my dearest, that with you," uses the negative conjectural ji: shall I never meet you again?
Third line, "I shall meet no more," runs to six syllables and means because I think so; ka is a questioning particle, closed by tsuru in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "that the parting of this morning," names the parting at dawn after a night together.
Fifth line, "was so hard, so hard to bear," means was beyond all remedy; tsuru, the attributive of the perfective tsu, closes the ka construction.
Author: Princess Takata
Source: Manyoshu
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