Tada ni aite miteba nomi koso tamakiharu inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame

直に逢ひて見てばのみこそたまきはる
命に向ふ我が恋やまめ

Roma-ji: Tada ni aite miteba nomi koso tamakiharu inochi ni mukau aga koi yamame
English Translation: Only if we meet,
face to face, and I see you,
only then will cease,
matching my soul-given life,
this great longing of my own
Meaning: Only if I could meet you face to face and see you would this love of mine, a love as great as life itself, come to rest.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 678

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems sent by Nakatomi no Iratsume to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
Only if she could meet him face to face would her love, as great as life itself, come to rest. It expresses a fierce love that nothing but a meeting can quiet.
The author, Nakatomi no Iratsume, was a woman of the Nakatomi clan of whom little is known, one of the women who sent love poems to Ōtomo no Yakamochi.

First line, "Only if we meet," runs to six syllables: meeting directly.
Second line, "face to face, and I see you," means only if I saw you, with koso closed by me in the fifth line.
Third line, "only then will cease," is tamakiharu, a pillow word for "life."
Fourth line, "matching my soul-given life," means equal to life, staked on life.
Fifth line, "this great longing of my own," uses me, the perfective of mu, closing koso: my love would cease.
Author: Nakatomi no Iratsume
Source: Manyoshu
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