Tsukikusa no utsuroiyasuku omoe kamo waga omou hito no koto mo tsugekonu

月草のうつろひやすく思へかも
我が思ふ人の言も告げ来ぬ

Roma-ji: Tsukikusa no utsuroiyasuku omoe kamo waga omou hito no koto mo tsugekonu
English Translation: Like the dayflower's dye,
quick to fade, is that how he
thinks of me, I wonder,
that the one I love so well
sends to me not even a word
Meaning: Does he think my heart as quick to fade as the dye of the dayflower, that the one I love sends me not even a word?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 583

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems sent in reply by the Elder Daughter of the Ōtomo household at Sakanoue to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
Is it because he thinks her heart as fickle as dayflower dye, she complains, that the one she loves sends not even a word? The quickly fading color dyed from the dayflower stands for the fickleness of the heart.
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, "Like the dayflower's dye," names tsukikusa, the dayflower, whose dye fades quickly, a pillow word for utsurou, "to fade, change."
Second line, "quick to fade, is that how he," means apt to fade, apt to change heart.
Third line, "thinks of me, I wonder," joins the perfective form to kamo for a questioning condition: is it because he thinks so? It is closed by the attributive nu in the fifth line.
Fourth line, "that the one I love so well," refers to Yakamochi.
Fifth line, "sends to me not even a word," uses nu, attributive of the negative zu, closing kamo: he does not send even a word.
Author: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume
Source: Manyoshu
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