Sahinokuma hinokumagawa no se o hayami kimi ga te toraba koto yosemu kamo

さ桧の隈桧隈川の瀬を早み
君が手取らば言寄せむかも

Roma-ji: Sahinokuma hinokumagawa no se o hayami kimi ga te toraba koto yosemu kamo
English Translation: At Sahinokuma
the river Hinokuma
runs so swift
that should I take your hand,
would people start to talk?
Meaning: The Hinokuma River at Sahinokuma runs so swift—if I should take your hand to cross, would people start whispering about us?
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1109

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Rivers"
Wondering whether people would gossip about them if the speaker took the beloved's hand to cross the swift Hinokuma River, this poem voices a lover's fear of watching eyes. The pretext of crossing the river and the longing to hold hands faintly overlap.
Within the group on rivers, a poem of love expressed through a river is placed here. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "At Sahinokuma," is the place name Hinokuma with the prefix "sa," the name repeated to lead into "Hinokuma River" in the second line.
The second line names the river flowing through Hinokuma, southwest of Asuka.
The third line, "runs so swift," is the same as the third line of the preceding poem, sharing the condition of a rushing stream.
The fourth line, "should I take your hand," is a hypothetical condition.
In the final line, "koto yosu" means for people to gossip and link two lovers, and "mu kamo" adds doubt and exclamation to the conjecture.
Source: Manyoshu
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