Tamazusa no imo wa hana ka mo ashihiki no kono yamakage ni makeba usenuru

玉梓の妹は花かもあしひきの
この山蔭に撒けば失せぬる

Roma-ji: Tamazusa no imo wa hana ka mo ashihiki no kono yamakage ni makeba usenuru
English Translation: My messenger-love,
could she be a flower?
On the foot-weary
mountain, in this shaded place,
I scattered her, and she vanished
Meaning: Could my wife have been a flower? When I scattered her in the shade of this mountain, she vanished away.
Commentary: Book Seven Elegies 1416

Headnote: "A Variant Text Reads"
The poet wonders whether his wife was a flower, for when he scattered her in the shade of this mountain she vanished. Like the preceding poem, it is understood to describe scattering his wife's cremated remains in the hills, likening her fleeting disappearance to a flower.
The headnote "A Variant Text Reads" means that a certain text gives the poem this way; it is a variant of the preceding poem, with "flower" for "jewel," "this mountain's shade" for "pure mountainside," and "vanished" for "was strewn." The poet is unknown.

The first line, "tamazusa no," here attaches to "imo," the same as the first line of the preceding poem.
The second line, "could she be a flower?," pauses the poem, answering "could she be a jewel?" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "ashihiki no," is the pillow word for "mountain," the same as the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "in this shaded place," answers "pure and clean mountainside" in the preceding poem.
The final line, "I scattered her, and she vanished," answers "she was strewn" in the preceding poem.
Source: Manyoshu
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