Koyoi no hayaku akenaba sube o nami aki no momoyo o negaitsuru kamo

今夜の早く明けなばすべをなみ
秋の百夜を願ひつるかも

Roma-ji: Koyoi no hayaku akenaba sube o nami aki no momoyo o negaitsuru kamo
English Translation: If this night of ours
were to dawn too soon for us,
helpless as I'd be,
a hundred autumn nights in one
is what I have wished for it
Meaning: If this night were to end too soon I would be helpless, so I have wished it might be as long as a hundred autumn nights.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 548

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy"
This is the second envoy to the long poem (546). Since he would be helpless if this night, when at last they are together, dawned too soon, he has wished for it to last as long as a hundred long autumn nights. It takes up and repeats the wish that closes the long poem: "Would it might be as long as a hundred autumn nights."
The author, Kasa no Kanamura, was a court poet of the early Nara period who left many poems composed on imperial progresses.

First line, "If this night of ours," names tonight, the night they are finally together.
Second line, "were to dawn too soon for us," uses na, the irrealis of the perfective nu, and hypothetical -ba: if it should end early.
Third line, "helpless as I'd be," uses o ... mi to give a reason: because I would have no recourse.
Fourth line, "a hundred autumn nights in one," means a length equal to a hundred long autumn nights, the same idea that ends the long poem.
Fifth line, "is what I have wished for it," uses the perfective tsuru and exclamatory kamo: that is what I wished.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
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