Kokoro ni wa wasururu hi naku omoedomo hito no koto koso shigeki kimi ni are

心には忘るる日なく思へども
人の言こそ繁き君にあれ

Roma-ji: Kokoro ni wa wasururu hi naku omoedomo hito no koto koso shigeki kimi ni are
English Translation: Deep within my heart
not a day do I forget,
thinking of you still;
yet it is you, it seems, about whom
people's tongues wag so loud
Meaning: In my heart there is no day I forget you, but you are one about whom people gossip so much.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 647

Headnote: "A poem by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
In her heart she never forgets him, she answers Surugamaro, but he is one about whom gossip runs thick. Against his reproach in the preceding poem, she replies that it is rumor that keeps them apart. It appears to be a playful exchange.
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She left many poems in the Man'yōshū and is esteemed as a leading woman poet.

First line, "Deep within my heart," means in my heart.
Second line, "not a day do I forget," means with no day of forgetting.
Third line, "thinking of you still," uses the concessive domo: though I think of you.
Fourth line, "yet it is you, it seems, about whom," singles out people's talk with koso, closed by are in the fifth line.
Fifth line, "people's tongues wag so loud," means you are one of much gossip, closing in the perfective are.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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