Amakumo no yoso ni mishi yori wagimoko ni kokoro mo mi sae yorinishi mono o

天雲の外に見しより我妹子に
心も身さへ寄りにしものを

Roma-ji: Amakumo no yoso ni mishi yori wagimoko ni kokoro mo mi sae yorinishi mono o
English Translation: Like the clouds of heaven,
since I saw her from afar,
to my dearest one
heart and even body too
have been drawn and leaned for good
Meaning: Ever since I glimpsed her from afar, distant as the clouds of heaven, my heart and even my body have been drawn wholly to my beloved.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 547

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the long poem (546) Kasa no Kanamura composed after winning a maiden during the progress to the Mikanohara detached palace in the third month of spring, second year of Jinki. Ever since he saw her from afar, he says, heart and body alike have leaned toward her, a love that seized him at first sight. It shares its last line, "have leaned for good," with poem 505 of this book, expressing in the same words a heart drawn to another.
The author, Kasa no Kanamura, was a court poet of the early Nara period who left many poems composed on imperial progresses.

First line, "Like the clouds of heaven," is amakumo no, a pillow word for yoso, "afar," meaning distant as the clouds in the sky.
Second line, "since I saw her from afar," means from the time I saw her at a distance, taking up the long poem's "seeing her only from afar, like the clouds of heaven."
Third line, "to my dearest one," means to my beloved.
Fourth line, "heart and even body too," uses sae, "even": not only my heart but my body as well.
Fifth line, "have been drawn and leaned for good," uses the perfective nu and past ki: they have been drawn to her; mono o closes with a note of feeling.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
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