Matsuragawa nanase no yodo wa yodomu tomo ware wa yodomazu kimi o shi matamu

松浦川七瀬の淀は淀むとも
我れは淀まず君をし待たむ

Roma-ji: Matsuragawa nanase no yodo wa yodomu tomo ware wa yodomazu kimi o shi matamu
English Translation: The Matsura River —
the pools along its many shallows
though they may lie still,
I will never falter, but
I will wait for you alone
Meaning: Though the still pools of the Matsura River's many shallows may linger, I will never falter, but wait for you alone.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 860

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three more poems in reply by the girls"
The girl vows that though the still pools of the Matsura River's many shallows may linger, she will not waver but wait for him. Overlaying the river's "pools" with the heart's "hesitation," it closes the three replies on her single-minded love.
The headnote reads "Three more poems in reply by the girls"; they take the form of the girls' answers to the wandering guest's three poems, but they are the work of the tale's author.
This belongs to the sequence that begins with "Preface on an Excursion to the Matsura River." The preface tells how the author, wandering by the pools of Tamashima in Matsura, met some girls fishing whose beauty was like that of immortal maidens; they answered that they were fishermen's children with neither village nor home, yet asked to be joined with him until old age. It is a fictional tale that borrows the conceits of the Chinese romance of the immortals, You xian ku. It is most commonly attributed to Ōtomo no Tabito, though some ascribe it to Yamanoue no Okura.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the father of Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Late in the Jinki era he went down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of Dazaifu, returned to the capital in Tenpyō 2 as Major Counselor, and died the following year. Versed in Chinese letters and Daoist thought, he formed a literary circle at Dazaifu with Yamanoue no Okura and others, known as the Tsukushi poetic circle.

First line, "Matsuragawa": the same first line as 855, answering the wandering guest's poem.
Second line, "nanase no yodo wa": "nanase" means many shallows, and "yodo" a place where water lies still.
Third line, "yodomu tomo": "though they may lie still," a concessive that turns to what follows.
Fourth line, "ware wa yodomazu": "I will not falter," contrasting the stillness of the river with that of the heart; "yodo" is repeated three times to shape the rhythm.
Fifth line, "kimi o shi matamu": "shi" is emphatic and "mu" expresses resolve: you alone I will wait for.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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