Waga omoi o hito ni shirure ka tamakushige hiraki aketsu to ime ni shi miyuru

我が思ひを人に知るれか玉櫛笥
開きあけつと夢にし見ゆる

Roma-ji: Waga omoi o hito ni shirure ka tamakushige hiraki aketsu to ime ni shi miyuru
English Translation: Has my secret love
become known to other folk;
my jeweled comb-box,
I have opened it, I dreamed,
lifted up its lid, it seems
Meaning: Has my love become known to others? I dreamed that I had opened my jeweled comb-box.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 591

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twenty-four poems sent by Lady Kasa to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
Having dreamed of opening her comb-box, she fears that her love has become known to others. She takes the dream of opening a hidden box as an omen that a concealed love is about to be revealed. Following the plea not to reveal her name, it voices anxiety that the love will be discovered.
The author, Lady Kasa, was a woman poet of the Nara period who sent many love poems to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Little else is known of her.

First line, "Has my secret love," runs to six syllables: my longing.
Second line, "become known to other folk," uses shiru, a lower bigrade verb meaning "to become known," with the questioning ka: has it become known? The poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "my jeweled comb-box," names tamakushige, a graceful word for a comb box and a pillow word for "open."
Fourth line, "I have opened it, I dreamed," means that I had opened it, tsu being perfective.
Fifth line, "lifted up its lid, it seems," uses the emphatic shi: so it appears in my dream. It ends in the attributive, leaving a lingering tone.
Author: Lady Kasa
Source: Manyoshu
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