Waga seko ni koureba kurushi itoma araba hiriite yukamu koiwasuregai

我が背子に恋ふれば苦し暇あらば
拾ひて行かむ恋忘貝

Roma-ji: Waga seko ni koureba kurushi itoma araba hiriite yukamu koiwasuregai
English Translation: For you, my dear one,
how painful is this longing—
if I have the time,
I will pick them up as I go,
the shells of love forgotten
Meaning: Longing for you, my dear, is so painful. If I have a moment, I will gather some as I go: the shells that let one forget love.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 964

Headnote: "A poem composed likewise by Lady Sakanoue on seeing shells on the beach on the sea route toward the capital"
This poem says that longing for the beloved is painful, so if there is time the poet will gather "love-forgetting shells," said to make one forget love. The long poem immediately before it (963) is titled "A poem composed in the eleventh month of winter by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue when, setting out from the Governor-General's house on her way up to the capital, she crossed Mount Nago in Munakata District, Chikuzen Province," and this poem too was composed in the eleventh month of winter in Tenpyō 2 (730), on seeing shells on the beach during her voyage from the Dazaifu to the capital.
Drawn to the very name of the love-forgetting shell, the poet sings in a light tone of her hope that by gathering it she might forget the pain of love. "Waga seko," "my dear one," is a word women used for a man close to them, but whom it refers to here is not clear.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was the daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. After the death of Tabito's wife, she is said to have gone down to the Dazaifu to help manage his household.

This poem seeks to forget love in order to escape its pain, and so forms a reversed image, turning on "forgetting," with "might I then, for even a day, forget you" in 947 of this book, which vows never to forget even for a moment.
The first line, "For you, my dear one," uses "seko," a word women used affectionately for a husband or lover.
The second line, "how painful is this longing," means "when I long for you, it hurts." The sense breaks here, making this a poem with a pause after the second line, and it states the pain of love outright.
The third line, "if I have the time," suggests a chance to go ashore during the sea voyage.
The fourth line, "I will pick them up as I go," uses "-mu," an auxiliary of intention. Like "let us gather morning greens" in 957 and "reap the jeweled weed" in 958 of this book, it expresses the intention to gather something from the shore.
The final line, "the shells of love forgotten," names a shell said to make its bearer forget the pain of love, and closes on a noun. It reveals only at the end, in inverted order, the object to be gathered in the fourth line.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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