Waga seko ga kaku koure koso nubatama no ime ni mietsutsu ineraezukere

我が背子がかく恋ふれこそぬばたまの
夢に見えつつ寐ねらえずけれ

Roma-ji: Waga seko ga kaku koure koso nubatama no ime ni mietsutsu ineraezukere
English Translation: It is since you, love,
long for me so much, it seems,
in the jet-black night
you appear in dream on dream,
and I cannot sleep at all
Meaning: It is because you long for me so much that you keep appearing in my dreams in the dark of night, and I cannot sleep.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 639

Headnote: "Another poem sent in reply by the maiden"
It is because he longs for her so much, she answers, that he keeps appearing in her dreams and she cannot sleep. Taking up his words of love, she returns the dream as a sign of his feeling; like poem 633 in this book, it rests on the belief that a lover's longing makes one appear in the other's dreams.
The author is a woman who exchanged poems with Prince Yuhara; her name has not come down.

First line, "It is since you, love," names her lover as the subject.
Second line, "long for me so much, it seems," joins the perfective koure to koso: precisely because you long so. It is closed by kere in the fifth line.
Third line, "in the jet-black night," is nubatama no, a pillow word for "night" and "dream."
Fourth line, "you appear in dream on dream," means appearing again and again in my dreams.
Fifth line, "and I cannot sleep at all," uses the potential rae and kere, the perfective closing koso: I cannot sleep.
Source: Manyoshu
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