Tarachine no haha ga sono naru kuwa sura ni negaeba kinu ni kiru to iu mono o

たらちねの母がそのなる桑すらに
願へば衣に着るといふものを

Roma-ji: Tarachine no haha ga sono naru kuwa sura ni negaeba kinu ni kiru to iu mono o
English Translation: My mother, milk-rich,
in her garden grows mulberry;
even that, they say,
if one begs and longs for it,
can be worn as clothing, yet—
Meaning: Even the mulberry growing in my mother's garden, they say, can be worn as clothing if one only wishes for it—and yet.
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1357

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Trees"
The poet says that even the mulberry in a mother's garden can be worn as clothing if one wishes for it. The daughter carefully guarded by her mother is likened to the mulberry in the mother's garden, and the poem carries the thought that if one keeps wishing with all one's heart, one should be able to make her one's wife.
It is one of the poems under the heading "On Trees." The phrase "as clothing" in the fourth line shares the figure of winning a lover as a garment with "rubbed on my robe" in poem 1354 and "rubbing its dye into my robe" in poem 1361 in this book. The poet is unknown.

The first line uses "tarachine no," a pillow word for "mother."
The second line, "in her garden," uses "sono," garden, and "naru," a contraction of "ni aru," "which is in."
The third line, "even that," refers to mulberry, whose leaves feed the silkworms whose thread is woven into cloth.
The fourth line, "if one begs and longs for it," states the condition.
The final line, "can be worn as clothing, yet," ends with "mono o," a concessive exclamation implying frustration that the poet's own wish is not granted.
Source: Manyoshu
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