Ikite araba mimaku mo shirazu nani shi ka mo shinamu yo imo to ime ni mietsuru

生きてあらば見まくも知らず何しかも
死なむよ妹と夢に見えつる

Roma-ji: Ikite araba mimaku mo shirazu nani shi ka mo shinamu yo imo to ime ni mietsuru
English Translation: If we live, who knows,
we may meet one day again;
why then did you come,
saying "I shall die, my love,"
in the dream I had of you
Meaning: If we stay alive we may yet meet again, so why did you appear in my dream saying, "I will die, my love"?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 581

Headnote: "Four poems sent in reply by the Elder Daughter of the Ōtomo household at Sakanoue to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
This is the first of four poems that Sakanoue no Ōiratsume sent in answer to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. If they live, they may meet again, she says, so why did he appear in her dream saying he would die of longing? Taking up the passionate words of love he had sent, she replies through a dream.
The author, Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume, was the daughter of Ōtomo no Sukunamaro and Lady Sakanoue, and later became Ōtomo no Yakamochi's principal wife.

First line, "If we live, who knows," runs to six syllables: if we are alive.
Second line, "we may meet one day again," uses mimaku, the nominalized form of mimu: we might yet see each other.
Third line, "why then did you come," asks why, with ka closed by tsuru in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "saying 'I shall die, my love,'" quotes the words of Yakamochi as he appeared in her dream.
Fifth line, "in the dream I had of you," uses tsuru, the attributive of the perfective tsu, closing ka: why did you appear in my dream?
Author: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume
Source: Manyoshu
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