Komomakura aimakishi ko mo araba koso yo no fukuraku mo waga oshimi seme

薦枕相枕きし子もあらばこそ
夜の更くらくも我が惜しみせめ

Roma-ji: Komomakura aimakishi ko mo araba koso yo no fukuraku mo waga oshimi seme
English Translation: On a pillow of rushes
if the girl who shared my pillow
were only still here,
then as the night grows late
I would grudge its passing
Meaning: If only the girl who shared my rush pillow were still here, then I would grudge the night as it grows late.
Commentary: Book Seven Elegies 1414

Headnote: none (Elegies section)
If only the wife who shared his pillow were still alive, the poet would grudge the night's passing as it grows late. Now that she is gone, he has no reason to grudge the late hours, and the poem conveys the emptiness of sleeping alone.
It is the eleventh poem in the elegy section. Following the preceding poem's lament that he cannot keep a patient heart, this one speaks of the emptiness of nights without his wife. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "On a pillow of rushes," is taken as a pillow word for "aimaku" (to share a pillow).
The second line, "the girl who shared my pillow," refers to his wife.
In the third line, "were only still here," the particle "koso" is answered by the perfective "me" in the final line.
The fourth line, "as the night grows late," refers to the night deepening.
The final line, "I would grudge its passing," closes the "koso ... me" construction with a counterfactual sense: since she is gone, he does not.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Niwatsutori kake no tario no midareo no nagaki kokoro mo omōenu kamo
Next Poem: Tamazusa no imo wa tama ka mo ashihiki no kiyoki yamabe ni makeba chirinuru