Michinobe no kusafukayuri no hanaemi ni emishi ga kara ni tsuma to iu beshi ya

道の辺の草深百合の花笑みに
笑みしがからに妻と言ふべしや

Roma-ji: Michinobe no kusafukayuri no hanaemi ni emishi ga kara ni tsuma to iu beshi ya
English Translation: By the roadside there
a lily deep in grasses
smiling like a flower—
just because I smiled at you,
should you call me now your wife?
Meaning: Like a lily blooming deep in the grass by the roadside, I smiled a little—but just because I smiled, should you call me your wife?
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1257

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Occasional Poems"
Just because she smiled a little, like a lily blooming deep in the grass, should she be called his wife? The poem chides a man's haste. From a woman's standpoint it lightly protests being treated as a wife merely for showing a hint of warmth.
It is one of the occasional poems. The image of a lily blooming quietly in the deep grass by the roadside, laid over a modest woman's smile, is lovely. It comes from the Old Poetry Collection. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "By the roadside there," means beside the road.
The second line, "a lily deep in grasses," completes a preface that leads into "smiling like a flower" in the third line.
The third line, "smiling like a flower," overlays a woman's smile on the opening of a lily.
The fourth line, "just because I smiled at you," uses "kara ni," meaning "for no more than that."
In the final line, "beshi ya" is rhetorical, "should you call me your wife? Surely not," and the line has an extra syllable.
Source: Manyoshu
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