Aiomowanu hito o ya motona shirotae no sode hitsu made ni ne nomi shi naku mo

相思はぬ人をやもとな白栲の
袖漬つまでに音のみし泣くも

Roma-ji: Aiomowanu hito o ya motona shirotae no sode hitsu made ni ne nomi shi naku mo
English Translation: One who loves me not,
why for him so helplessly,
till my sleeves of white
are all soaked through with my tears,
do I only weep aloud
Meaning: For one who does not love me in return, why do I weep aloud so helplessly, until my white sleeves are soaked through?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 614

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems sent by Princess Yamaguchi to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
For one who does not love her, she weeps until her white sleeves are soaked. It opens, like Lady Kasa's poem 608, with "one who loves me not," so that the lament of unrequited love echoes between poems by different women.
The author, Princess Yamaguchi, is a woman of whom little is known, apparently one of the women who exchanged love poems with Ōtomo no Yakamochi.

First line, "One who loves me not," runs to six syllables and opens as poem 608 does.
Second line, "why for him so helplessly," uses the questioning ya, closed in the fifth line, and motona, "for no reason, helplessly."
Third line, "till my sleeves of white," is shirotae no, a pillow word for "sleeve."
Fourth line, "are all soaked through with my tears," uses hitsu, "to be drenched": until my sleeves are wet.
Fifth line, "do I only weep aloud," means I do nothing but cry aloud, with the exclamatory mo.
Author: Princess Yamaguchi
Source: Manyoshu
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