Kaku bakari koitsutsu arazu wa iwaki ni mo naramashi mono o mono mowazu shite

かくばかり恋ひつつあらずは石木にも
ならましものを物思はずして

Roma-ji: Kaku bakari koitsutsu arazu wa iwaki ni mo naramashi mono o mono mowazu shite
English Translation: Rather than like this
go on longing endlessly,
into rock or tree
would that I had been transformed,
free of all these brooding thoughts
Meaning: Rather than go on longing like this, I wish I had turned into a rock or a tree, free of all this brooding.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 722

Headnote: "A poem by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
Rather than suffer love like this, he wishes he had become a rock or a tree, things without a heart. It shares its conception with Kasa no Kanamura's poem 544, "rather than go on longing, on the Mounts of Wife and Husband would that I had been," expressing a wish to escape the pain of love.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a poet thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū. He later rose to the rank of Middle Counselor.

First line, "Rather than like this," means to this extent.
Second line, "go on longing endlessly," runs to eight syllables: rather than keep on longing; it is the same line as the second of poem 544.
Third line, "into rock or tree," names rocks and trees, things without feeling.
Fourth line, "would that I had been transformed," uses the counterfactual mashi: I should have become one. The poem breaks after this line.
Fifth line, "free of all these brooding thoughts," gives by inversion the reason for his wish.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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