Haru no no ni sumire tsumi ni to koshi ware zo no o natsukashimi hitoyo ninikeru

春の野にすみれ摘みにと来し我れぞ
野をなつかしみ一夜寝にける

Roma-ji: Haru no no ni sumire tsumi ni to koshi ware zo no o natsukashimi hitoyo ninikeru
English Translation: To the fields of spring
I came to pick the violets,
and it was I
who, so drawn to the fields,
slept there through the night
Meaning: I came to the spring fields to pick violets, and so drawn was I to the fields that I stayed and slept there through the night.
Commentary: Book Eight Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1424

Headnote: "Four poems by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito"
Having come to the spring fields meaning to pick violets, the poet found them so delightful that he could not bring himself to leave and spent the night there. Celebrated as a poem that frankly expresses a deep attachment to nature, it is regarded as representative of Akahito's spring poems.
The author, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period. He excelled at pure, clear landscape poems and was later ranked alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.

The first line sets the stage: the fields of spring.
The second line gives the purpose of the visit. Violets are said to have been picked for food or dye. Violets also appear in 1444 and 1449 of this book.
The emphatic particle "zo" in the third line forms a kakari-musubi with "keru" in the final line, thrusting the poet himself forward.
The fourth line, in the pattern "... o ... mi," means "because I was drawn to the fields."
The final line answers the "zo" of the third line by closing in the attributive "keru." In the outcome of spending the night, going beyond the intended violet-picking, the depth of his love for the spring fields is revealed.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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